Master
by 53N0
Summary: Everyone needs a purpose. Strength, love, hate, greed. It doesn't matter what. When one is forgotten and left to rot they have no purpose, when they are taken and cared for they gain one. Every dog has it's master and hers would never be harmed.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki. Age eight, blue eyes, blond hair. He was asleep in bed, in the apartment that the Hokage had given him after he had been found nearly a year after being kindly kicked out of the orphanage at the age six. Kindly because they hadn't done it out of spite like others would've, people simply vandalized the orphanage too much and the other children were in danger.

The matrons had also taught him well enough that they knew he would survive. Basic things of life such as reading and writing, what types of people were unsavory and how to avoid them, as well as to think things through logically. He'd decided to take logic as one of his preferred points of life because logic couldn't hurt him, not like people.

A tongue lapping at his cheek alerted him that his recent friend had chosen to wake up. He looked down to see a white wolf cub smiling up at him, it had odd red markings and some patches of fur with black swirls. It's tail looked more like a paintbrush than an actual tail. This was Amaterasu, he found her just a little over a month ago while walking through the streets, along with an odd green disk that she carried around and a seed. She was horribly hurt when he found her but with some minor help from him she seemed to heal within a few days.

There was also the fact of how he knew her name. Her tail seemed like a paintbrush for a reason, she dipped the tip of it in some ink she managed to get a hold of and wrote the kanji for it on the wall of his apartment. It was complete with 'my name is-'. The seed he planted outside of his apartment- there was a small plot of empty land behind his apartment complex that no one ever used. The fact no one but him lived there nudged at him but he shrugged it off, more space for him to use. He was thinking of making the plot into a garden, he always loved plants.

A small bark pulled him from his thoughts. "Alright alright, I'll make breakfast." He resigned himself as he got up from bed. Amaterasu barked happily at his words. He threw on a clean white shirt with a red, black-lined spiral and a pair of black shorts followed by a thin scroll about five inches high and two in diameter being hung around his neck by a thin silver chain at the top.

Cooking was another thing the matrons taught him, just the basics since he was a kid but it was still something he worked on. Eggs for him and some bacon for Amaterasu. Breakfast was quiet besides the two ill-manneredly chomping on their food, one being an animal and the other an orphan neither were much for manners.

Afterwards the two exited the apartment and left to the small plot outside, Naruto watering the plant as the blond man who identified the seed as one for a peach tree directed. Amaterasu just scampered excitedly to limber up for their walk afterwards. When he finished watering the seed with a hose Naruto kneeled and patted the ground with his hand, there was no real reason behind it other than that it felt right to him.

"Lets go Amaterasu. The Academy will start soon and I don't want to be late." Naruto ordered. From what the dog-masked Anbu told him one had to be firm with their dogs. Wolves were simply wilder dogs so he'd have to be a bit more firm.

Amaterasu nodded excitedly and they began walking towards the Ninja Academy. Two things had excited them both over the month since she first went with him, elemental Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu respectively. The idea that people could breathe fire, control lightning, make dragons of water, and so much more fascinated Naruto to no end. The idea of Fūinjutsu being purely about calligraphy had stuck a chord in Amaterasu, if her sleeping through every subject before and after was any clue.

Naruto had no clue how she could understand human speech as well as a person but he didn't question it too much, it just wasn't logically possible.

"Uzumaki Naruto." A female voice called him. The boy looked to his left to see an Anbu wearing a cat mask, she seemed to be in her mid-teens if he were to guess and she had purple hair.

"Yes?"

"The Hokage wishes to see you." The Anbu informed him while offering a hand for the Shunshin. Naruto picked up Amaterasu before taking the offered hand and the Anbu had to admit that it was amusing to see that a dog, at least in her eyes, would attend a meeting with the Hokage.

XXX Hokage Office XXX

Naruto appeared with the Anbu and Amaterasu in a cloud of smoke inside of the Hokage's office. The Anbu promptly retreated out of sight as Naruto regained his balance from the disorienting Jutsu. He looked to see not just the Hokage but the two elders of Konoha as well. "Did I do something wrong?" As far as he knew only diplomats or criminals to be judged met the whole council at once, and he was no diplomat.

"Uzumaki Naruto." One of the two men, elder Homura if he remembered correctly, greeted. "Your submitted forms stated that you only with to be a part of the ninja forces for the required five years."

"Err…yes? I don't see myself as a ninja. I think ninja are cool but they die. They have to kill too and I don't think I could do it." Naruto replied while giving his reason for doing so. He had joined the academy at six as required and in the two years he had been in attendance it was explained that he would have to kill.

Koharu Utatane, the sole female elder nodded solemnly, it was a fact that many orphans did leave the ninja forces after the required time because they couldn't bring themselves to kill. "A wise choice, if you were to ignore your feelings on the matter you may freeze up in the field and put your teammates at risk." She commended.

"However, you will not be able to leave the forces until at least the age of eighteen as some things left to you can only be granted after that age or upon the promotion to Jōnin." Homura continued.

"Left to me?" Naruto asked. "I'm sorry but I'm an orphan."

"Yes you are." The Hokage himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally spoke up. "We know not who your parents are but your godfather had made himself known shortly after the Kyūbi attack…" He went silent for a moment in respect and sadness.

"Why hasn't he visited me?" Naruto asked.

"Your godfather is a prominent member of the ninja forces and as such is needed for-"

"Pardon my disrespect, but he should have time away from missions- time he could spend with me." The boy interrupted.

Homura couldn't refute him, it was logic, the same logic he himself used on the boys godfather. "So he does, I will admit he is a terrible person for your parent to have named your godfather before their deaths."

"I apologize." Koharu began. "I have pleaded with him to visit you but he refused and I cannot order him to do so." It was true, Naruto was different than other orphans. Besides seeing that he was a lonely boy he was a Jinchuriki and as such must have ties to the village.

"I see…" Naruto muttered. "Forget it then, if he doesn't want to visit me he doesn't have to. Could you remove him from his role?"

"Huh?" The three, as well as the hidden Anbu, asked in shock.

"I don't need someone who won't be there for me, he's had eight years right? If he hasn't bothered with me until now he shouldn't have guilt on his conscience and I shouldn't have disappointment on mine."

"Uzumaki-san, please reconsider this." Koharu pleaded.

"No." Naruto stated firmly.

"…I'll have the paperwork drawn up." Hiruzen said resignedly, he hadn't expected this outcome when they decided to reveal Naruto having a godfather and he didn't want to do this to his student but it was law that any child with a godparent had the right to have said godparent removed from the position if they haven't claimed them or met within five years. He doubted Naruto knew it but it was the law and Naruto seemed firm on his decision.

"Thank you. Do we have anything else to talk about or can I go to he academy?" Naruto asked.

"No, we have no further business Uzumaki-san. Anbu Cat, take him to the academy." Homura answered then ordered. The purple-haired Anbu appeared and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder before vanishing in a Shunshin.

The three would be dealing with an angry San'nin soon and had little to show for it.

XXX Ninja Academy XXX

Naruto and the cat-Anbu appeared outside of his classroom with Naruto and Amaterasu disoriented yet again. Naruto let his pet down and wobbled slightly, two Shunshin in less than twenty minutes throwing his balance off harshly.

Cat knocked on the door lightly and waited until it was answered by a brown-haired man with a scar across his nose. "Umino-san, excuse Uzumaki-san for his tardiness as the Hokage and elders had to speak with him."

Iruka Umino, Naruto's current teacher at the academy and one of the few non-biased teachers on staff. He nodded and motioned Naruto inside. "Take a seat Naruto, thank you Cat."

Cat nodded and left. Naruto walked in followed by Amaterasu. "Hey, the blond kid brought his dog again." A random kid exclaimed.

Naruto ignored the kid and walked straight to his seat in the back of the room. He pulled his scroll out of his shirt and unfurled it a bit to show a storage seal on the paper, he could barely make it good enough to use as he had only learned about it a month ago but it served its purpose. In a small plume of smoke a black notebook appeared on his desk and he rolled up the scroll before hiding it in his shirt once more.

"Alright class, since the interruption is over lets start again. The basic three Jutsu are the Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge, and Kawarimi no Jutsu. The Bunshin is a minor clone and just an illusion, it doesn't have a shadow but should serve its purpose against weaker enemies. The Henge is also a slight illusion that changes your appearance, these two are the entry to Genjutsu. The Kawarimi no Jutsu though, is a Ninjutsu that switches your place with another object. It is the beginning of Ninjutsu. Once you've learned these three we'll move onto practical application…"

Naruto listened to Iruka intently while writing notes during the time others began to dose off. He wrote down every fact of the three Jutsu as they left Iruka's mouth such as the Henge being useless against Sensor-ninja and the Bunshin being the beginning to Elemental Ninjutsu as afterwards an element could be used to create the Bunshin, or even the Kawarimi counting as a Jikūkan Ninjutsu.

He may not be very smart but he knew that if he didn't listen and focus now he'd pay for it later. He had no intention of dying during his time as a ninja and the knowledge and personal experience Iruka was trying to confer to them would help greatly, even if it made him want to sleep. He glanced at his side for a moment to see Amaterasu already asleep at his feet. A quick pat to her head and he continued his work.

XXX Naruto's Home XXX

Naruto walked back into his apartment tiredly with Amaterasu just behind him. The excitable dog had led him on a chase around the village and through several Clan grounds simply because she could, none of the ground were restricted though and he warned her whenever one was so they stayed clear. He had also gone and patted the soil above the seed again simply because it felt right.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The cat Anbu greeted from behind him again.

"Holy- don't do that!" The boy demanded.

"My apologies but I was asked to deliver this to you." She said while handing him several forms.

"Is this the paperwork the Hokage said he'd get ready? That was fast. Thanks."

"It's fine, good day." The Anbu spoke before leaving.

Naruto closed the door and set the paperwork down on his table, he'd read it tomorrow when he wasn't so tired.

XXX Next Day XXX

Naruto was awoken by licks to his face and quickly put his hands up to stop the perpetrator. Amaterasu just began to lick his hands though and continued unabashed. "Alright I'm up." Naruto announced as he sat up. He threw on a carbon copy of what he wore the day before and left his room, it was Saturday now and the Academy wasn't open. It was the rest of the week though so he only had today to read through the paperwork.

"Wow that's a lot of paperwork." Naruto muttered. It was a stack two inches high now that he took a closer look at it, with some notes sticking off of them.

"Lets see…stuff to remove the guy from being my godfather, more, more…what the hell is this?" Naruto asked as a page got his attention. "Resignation from a lifetime contract as a Konoha ninja!? I never signed up for this in the first place!" It seemed his godfather decided to make more decisions for him than he'd earned the right to.

"What the? Resignation from Clan Restoration Act? The heck is that?" Naruto read the description and scratched at his head. "What the heck is a 'polygamy'?" He read more. "Multiple wives?" Naruto asked fearfully. He could hardly stand girls in general he didn't want to be stuck with multiple for life!

Amaterasu nudged his leg and he looked down at her, she seemed worried from the look in her eyes and a small whine so he scratched her head. "Don't worry Amaterasu, all I have to do is fill out this paperwork and I won't have to do any of this stuff." Naruto assured her. Inwardly he swore he'd find out just who his godfather was and give him a piece of his mind for this crap!

"What else do we have? Apprenticeship to some sage? I don't like killing but I'm not going to just throw away everything I've got." He muttered. "I don't want to sign any summon scrolls, especially not for something like toads."

Amaterasu seemed to scoff at the idea.

"Teaching by…'classified: due to Anbu' I'd be taught by an Anbu? I guess I can leave this one until I meet the Anbu." The next one left him confused. "Contract for five…oh! I guess that I do need a contract for being a ninja…but a full inch of paperwork is a lot. There are a lot of missions though."

He turned around and began breakfast so he could fill out the paperwork without being hungry, Amaterasu clawing at his leg also helped. Once Naruto had finished breakfast and ate he sat down to carefully read the paperwork and fill it out. "Alright all I have to do here is sign my name and a denial for the summons and apprenticeship…done and done." Both were only a page and just warned about refusing a summon scroll being a unwise choice and what an apprenticeship was.

"Geez, this Clan Restoration crap is almost ten pages. It should be a 'yes or no' thing." He filled out the first page which was in essence a decline to the whole thing and continued to read… "Marriage contracts? No. Just, no." He signed his disapproval on those as well. Some people would like him less for it if they actually went to the trouble of making the contract but he didn't want them so he didn't care.

"Alright. Last part, my ninja contract. Minimum five years…"

XXX Later XXX

After writing up his ninja contract, it was mostly information about him and where he wanted his payment for missions to go, as well as some missions and descriptions he could deny wanting to participate in before becoming a Jōnin. He chose not to do assassination and things like that or seduction since he apparently had to spend his time with a girl.

"Okay, done." He glanced down to Amaterasu at his feet and nudged her a bit. "Amaterasu get up, it's time for a walk."

Amaterasu shot up and barked excitedly at him, tail wagging in anticipation for a walk. "Haha. Good girl, now lets go." Naruto ordered as they left.

Naruto was completely oblivious to how much his future would change by denying the various things he did. Most of the marriage contracts were from clans in the village but one was from a very special person outside of it.

* * *

**Hello again! ****The idea for this came about while I was talking with someone about fic ideas and I decided to roll with it! Now, I have ideas for five about every other day so I may start another fic but that would be it.**

**An Ōkami crossover is…well it's not really popular for Naruto as far as I can tell but I'm hoping I can make it good. Obvious cannon divergence, Naruto isn't friends with the Hokage and is taking shit seriously when it comes to other people and their choices when it directly involves him. I put some clichés like Naruto being kicked out of the orphanage and him being better than he should but I gave reasons for it. **

**I also put the usual 'terrible past' cliché in but not to the entirely overdramatic crap some people do and I changed how Naruto reacts to it, he doesn't like interacting with people and is even on the scared side of the spectrum. **

**You can see what I'm going to have him and Amaterasu specializing in and if you think this is going to take place only in the Naruto world think again, way down the line he is going to the Okami world and he's going to learn about what it's like from a character you could guess from the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto sighed in annoyance. One week after he had turned the paperwork to rid himself of his godfather and he was being called up to the Hokage's office yet again. Amaterasu wasn't amused either if her growl at having the Shunshin no Jutsu used was any indication. "Is there…a problem?" Naruto asked with a pause to push his breakfast back down.

Class had just started and they were learning about theory behind Elemental Ninjutsu, which could be used to train in them before actually graduating, but he couldn't if he didn't listen and take notes on the process! There was supposed to be a lesson on Fūinjutsu theory later as well so again, Amaterasu was also irritated.

"Yes." The Hokage answered. "You declined entrance to the Clan Restoration act and several marriage contracts that would help village ties."

"And?" Naruto asked angrily. "I don't want any of them."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." The Hokage answered.

"Elder Koharu said you can't order someone to do something they don't want to if its personal." Naruto replied.

"Yes but this is a special case."

"How is it a special case? Is it to a daimyo's daughter or something?" Aside from that it just wasn't important enough to worry about.

"No but-"

"Then who cares? Besides, my 'godfather' made them all right? Why should I bother with them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Not all, some were requests from clans for a marriage between you and their heir." The Hokage spoke carefully.

"And why the heck would they want an orphan like me to do that? As far as I know that should be for important people."

"I believe they wanted ties to your godfather." The Hokage lied.

"Why does everyone but me seem to know about him, why the heck didn't anyone tell _me_ about him?"

"No one was told, only the elders and clan heads know he is your godfather."

"That still doesn't explain why I didn't know until last week when they've apparently known since I was born." Naruto pressed.

"I can't tell you Naruto, I don't know-"

"You're the Hokage and he's a ninja! You told me yourself that he claimed me just after the Kyūbi attack!" Naruto argued while Amaterasu began growling a bit.

"…I don't know." The Hokage argued weakly.

"…Is there anything else or can I go?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"You may leave." Was his defeated reply. Naruto left and Hiruzen knew he hadn't made any progress in befriending Naruto and any chances of convincing him of taking the marriage contracts were slim at best.

XXX Naruto's Apartment XXX

Naruto entered the apartment with a sigh and shut the door after Amaterasu walked in. He went to his bed and unsealed his notebook, Amaterasu close behind him. He had taken notes on the various theories of Elemental Ninjutsu after an Anbu took him back to class, Iruka having left the original notes on Doton on the board for him. The notes were, in order from most physical to spiritual; Doton, Suiton, Katon, Raiton, and Fūton. He also had an extra page of notes on the Explosive tags, he didn't care about Fūinjutsu at all and he'd leave it to Amaterasu given how good her calligraphy was despite using her tail as a brush.

"Okay…Doton is one of the basic elemental nature transformation techniques and allows the user to manipulate the surrounding earth for offensive and defensive purposes or create it; be it dirt, mud, or rock. Doton techniques have the ability to change the strength and composition of the earth from being as hard as metal to as soft as clay, as well as manipulating their density, making them heavier or lighter. This includes allowing the user to travel through ground and rock in various ways which can be essential for both transportation and for setting up attacks or creating defenses or for offense. Indeed, this makes earth techniques one of the most versatile of the elemental techniques. Pre-existing earth is not necessary though, for the user can create it with their own chakra." Naruto read.

"So I should start with Doton by trying to make a rock stronger with my chakra? I guess that's a start." He muttered before switching to the page for the explosive tag and laying the notebook down for Amaterasu to look at while he left to get a rock.

Amaterasu stared at the page with the array for the basic Explosive tag written down along with various notes before nodding and going to her corner. Naruto had left her a corner in the one bedroom apartment to work on Fūinjutsu. There was a small stack of paper left down and a dish full of ink, she carefully touched her nose to the top sheet on the stack of paper and pulled off only two sheets to her pride. She had originally taken half of the stack with her paw but practice had payed off leaving her taking only one more than needed.

She dipped the tip of her tail in the disk and began to place the correct kanji and symbols on the paper…it quickly became apparent that she wasn't accurate enough to do so as her tail both dripped ink onto the paper and wrote too big kanji.

She sighed. She'd have to find another way to do it then, her paws were too big and she couldn't maneuver them as well as her tail and she wasn't about to try using her nose. She'd have to try something else or find another way.

"I'm back!" Naruto announced as he walked in with a rock the size of his fist in his hands, the biggest rock from the plot of land outside.

Amaterasu wiped her tail clean on the paper before making her way over to him. He sat on the floor and placed the rock before himself while he thought. "I don't know how I'm supposed to make it stronger though…" He shrugged and decided to simply channel his chakra into the rock and see what happened. When he finished forcing his chakra into the rock he picked it up and looked it over… "Nothing different. Just a chakra charged rock…maybe I should make my chakra feel like the rock?"

He dragged his chakra from the rock and focused on making it as much like the rock as possible. Easier said than done since he couldn't get his chakra to do what he wanted. "Maybe I should start with something else? Yeah…Fūton." If Doton was that hard then Fūton might be easier.

"Fūton is one of the five basic elemental nature transformations. It is performed by making chakra as sharp and thin as possible. Fūton is mainly short to mid-ranged offensive techniques that combine brute force and keen precision to deal cutting and slashing damage. A rarity among the five chakra natures, wind techniques are usually performed by generating air circulation and can be enhanced through this method as well. Wind-natured chakra can also be channelled into blades to increase their cutting power and overall range." Naruto read from his notebook moments later.

"So I have to make my chakra thin and sharp…" He looked at the rock on the floor behind him and shrugged. Placing a hand on it he tried to make a thin life of his chakra push into the rock from his hand, just like Doton it didn't work.

"Crap. It doesn't work either, maybe if I try again?" It was simple in theory, just make his chakra thin and have it push against the rock hard. No results the second time, nor the third, fourth, and fifth. Fūton was the easiest in theory so it should've been easy.

It would've helped if he had enough control to make actually thin pulses of chakra.

After the tenth time Naruto sighed angrily and tossed the rock into an empty corner. "Forget it. I'll try again tomorrow." He muttered as he stood. "Come on Amaterasu, time for bed."

Amaterasu followed him quietly, a bit irritated her tail wasn't good enough to use Fūinjutsu. She'd rest and think of another way the next day.

XXX Ninja Academy, 1 month later XXX

Naruto and Amaterasu were sitting and laying down respectively as they listened to Iruka's lecture on chakra control. Neither had made any progress on their respective fields at all- Amaterasu had even tried holding a brush in her paws, which failed spectacularly on accomplishing her goal.

Naruto scowled to himself as he half-heartedly listened to the lecture. Fūton and Doton were supposed to be the easiest to learn followed shortly by Katon, he tried the third as well and he couldn't come up with any way to 'warm up' his chakra. It was impossible to figure out how he could do it and-

*Slam* A ruler lodged itself in the wall beside his head and he froze. "Are you ready to start paying attention in class Naruto?" Iruka asked. It was odd for Naruto to not be listening and the entire class had been staring at him for it.

Naruto couldn't take his eyes off the ruler though, he hasn't even seen it coming it had been so fast. It had even cut itself halfway into the wall…wait. He thought about it, the ruler was fast and thin so it cut deep into the wall… "Thats it!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly.

Iruka, and the class, blinked. "What is it Naruto?"

"I figured out how to learn Fūton!" Naruto answered excitedly, when he got to his house he'd start trying to cut the rock with fast, slim chakra instead of pushing it through.

"Naruto, that's something that Chūnin learn, how did you figure it out?" The teacher asked, he had trouble figuring it out when he just became Chūnin much less as an _academy student_.

"You said that Fūton is performed by making chakra as thin and sharp as possible. I couldn't figure out the sharp part but…" He motioned to the ruler in the wall beside him. "I could just make my chakra fast and thin so it cuts through something like it was sharp."

Iruka smiled, realizing that this was what had been distracting Naruto. "Good, and that's how Fūton actually works, but pay attention. You can practice after school." He chided.

Naruto nodded and began listening to the lecture with fervor, excited after his discovery. Amaterasu nuzzled against his leg before laying down and going to sleep.

XXX Apartment Plot XXX

Amaterasu was walking around the plot of land behind the apartments since Naruto was trying to cut the rock with microscopic success. As she walked around a man began to walk through the plot, she hid from him and watched him walk along until he stopped and in a plume of smoke transformed into a dog!

(How did you do that!?) She asked the dog.

The dog turned to her surprised and took a step back. (I don't want any trouble.) It spoke, knowing how territorial some dogs were and a pup was never alone for too long.

(How did you change into a human?) Amaterasu asked again. If she had actual fingers she could hold a brush!

(That?) The dog asked. (It's a Jutsu that some dogs learn.)

(Teach me!) Amaterasu begged.

The dog weighed its options and took a step forward. (If you promise not to tell anyone I was here I'll teach you.) It said.

(Sure, now teach me!)

(Alright.) The dog answered while moving towards her, when it was next to her it sat and placed a paw on her head, connecting its chakra to hers and molding it.

In a plume of smoke a small white haired girl was sitting in Amaterasu's place…before falling forward. (Ow!) The girl barked before in a plume of smoke Amaterasu was there again.

The dog just placed a paw on her head again and molded it again. (Focus! You have to memorize how to mold your chakra, I won't be doing this for you forever.) The dog chided.

(Ah, right!) Amaterasu agreed as a girl once more. Once she fell forward again and changed back the dog motioned her to do it herself. She tried, and failed.

(I'm gonna be here all day aren't I?) The dog muttered to itself. After a few more tries Amaterasu began to get the hang of it but the dog was huffing. (Enough, we'll start again in a day.) It ordered, it had enough chakra to maintain the Jutsu all day but the constant transformations the girl went through had drained more chakra than a Gennin had in their whole body.

(Ah, okay.) Amaterasu agreed, also getting tired but still excited at being able to learn Fūinjutsu still.

(Whatever, just remember not to tell anyone I was here!) The dog barked.

(Alright! See you tomorrow!) Amaterasu answered while heading up the stairs inside the apartments.

Naruto would be in for a shock when she finished learning the Jutsu. Not that she knew.

XXX XXX

Naruto groaned as something heavy landed on top of him. It had been over a week since he figured out Fūton and it was his day off, "Amaterasu it's to early!"

A bark different that usual alerted him that something was off. He opened his eyes to meet two black ones, only this time they belonged to a girl.

"…" He stared at the white-haired girl looking over him with an excited smile until the situation finally set in for him. "Ah!" He yelled as he threw her off of him and jumped off the bed away from her.

*Poof* In a plume of smoke his pet was in the girls place. He barely registered that with his back against the wall away from her.

Amaterasu growled at her master before running out of the room, she returned shortly after with her ink dish and wrote on the wall. [What was that for!?]

"'What was that for'? What do you mean 'what was that for'? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" A girl you've never met before suddenly waking you up out of nowhere, no, it was perfectly reasonable.

[I wanted to show you the Jutsu I learned!] Amaterasu argued.

"Jutsu? That was a Jutsu!? What the hell kind of Jutsu turns a wolf into a person?!" Naruto demanded.

Amaterasu paused. [What?]

Naruto scowled. "I pushed you in the shoulder. The shoulder was farther away from where your shoulder is as a wolf. Whatever Jutsu that is actually makes you a person Amaterasu."

Amaterasu put her head down and began scratching at it. The Jutsu makes her an actual human? Why didn't that dog tell her that? So many questions.

"Anyway, why would you even want to be a person?" Naruto asked.

[Fingers.] Amaterasu wrote.

Naruto's mind flashed back to when she tried to hold a brush between her paws- pretty funny sight- and he nodded at the logic. If you couldn't do something normally then use a Jutsu…still. "How did you expect to use your fingers if you weren't actually human?"

Amaterasu paused…before bashing her head on the wall for her stupidity.

Naruto chuckled. "Alright then, I guess I'll teach you to be human then…" He offered, at her confused look he answered. "You don't think people go around barking do you? I doubt you could actually use those fingers either since you've never had any."

[Thank you.] Amaterasu wrote after a moment of thought. Right, it's not that easy. It couldn't be that easy.

"No problem, just don't scare me like that again." Naruto chided. "If you do you're sleeping outside."

Amaterasu whimpered, despite being called Fire country the nights were cold. She had been forced to sleep outside when she had used the restroom inside once and she didn't want to be out in the cold like that again.

"Good." Naruto muttered. "Lets eat breakfast before we start."

A small breakfast later Naruto was sitting in front of a human Amaterasu who was on her hands and knees…they had already dealt with her being naked by him putting one of his shirts on her before she transformed.

Naruto took hold of one of her hands and pulled a finger in random directions. You feel that Amaterasu?" He asked, at her nod he continued. "I'm gonna stop now, try and keep your finger moving around without help."

He let go…and the finger stopped moving. Even as Amaterasu's eyes narrowed in concentration, they didn't move. (This is hard.) She barked.

"I have no clue what you just said." Naruto admitted, "I'm gonna guess you can't do it?" A nod. "Don't worry about it, practice makes perfect after all."

Amaterasu nodded as she started panting, then in a plume of smoke she was a wolf once more. Now she was laying on the floor tiredly with only a little chakra.

"Huh? I guess it must take more chakra than you have." Naruto muttered. In truth the Jutsu took high-Gennin reserves to keep for the entire day and of them only he had those levels of chakra. Amaterasu nodded and he patted her head. "Well like I said, practice makes perfect. Just keep doing it every day and we'll keep practicing every tray until you can go all day with it."

* * *

**Hey, quick right? When I'm tired and I get good ideas I write fast.**

**Adressing the whole human Amarerasu thing, when Akamaru did it he was capable of dealing damage and taking it as if he was actually Kiba so I guessed that it could be possible.**

**Now I will address a cliche that I will not be using in this fic: the ignorant Minato. If you check the wiki the clone of him from when Nagato attacked was fully aware, it could understand things and make decisions. He also knew that Kushina had been able to meet Kyūbi from the beginning so it's actually possible that if naruto had a bad life and wanted revenge it could've actually helped him by undoing the seal. **

**He he also gave Naruto Yang Kyūbi, the five basic elements are mostly energy based and so the spiritual yang half would be better for those, I'm having Naruto learn all basic natures because its actually possible that having the yang half made them all his affinities. **

**Im in not saying Minato isn't without faults though, he could transfer his chakra to others and tune it to them so he should've been able to take some from Naruto to keep his body in the mind-scape. **


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke Uchiha was confused, no, he was downright stunned by the offer made to him by his senior in front of him. He had been in the ninja academy for one year now and as an Uchiha he began learning Katon earlier than normal children, even earlier than others because of his status as the clan heads son. That fact given he also knew what strengthened and weakened Katon. Now his senior by two years, Naruto Uzumaki, had just offered to teach him Fūton in exchange for teaching him Katon.

"Are you serious?" He couldn't help but ask.

Naruto sighed, why did he have to leave Amaterasu at home today? He wasn't good with people, it's why he wanted her to maintain a human appearance all day every day, he wanted her to talk to others for him. He nodded. "Yes. I'm serious Sasuke-san."

Sasuke began to think over the consequences of teaching his senior Katon. It was taught by Jōnin sensei from what he knew so secrecy wasn't a reason not to. His senior already knew Fūton so chances are he had enough chakra to learn Katon without dying of chakra exhaustion. On the good side, he'd learn Fūton to strengthen his Katon Jutsu and, if he ever felt like learning Kenjutsu, cut through most things with greater range.

"…Alright. Come on." Sasuke agreed, the pros outweighed the nonexistent cons. There were chances that Naruto didn't know any actual Fūton Jutsu but if he learned Fūton now he wouldn't need to train later when he could get his hands on some Jutsu.

Naruto silently followed Sasuke through the village, the reason he was doing this was he had run out of ideas for Fūton and decided to learn something to strengthen it. If he hadn't run out of ideas after cutting through rocks like butter he wouldn't have bothered.

He wondered what Amaterasu was doing but shook away the thought, probably messing around with seals again. Apparently, from her 'simple' explanation of it, seals were just worded directions for chakra sent into the seal to alter reality, that said a person had to be extremely specific and not screw up the kanji in the slightest or reality itself would violently reject the order. It was usually an explosive rebound but causing a small tear in space and time around the rejection and reforming it wasn't unheard of when it came to seal masters.

Seals had many more rules as well such as if one part of a seal contradicted another, the entire seal would be compromised and rejected. Another was that if it wasn't specific enough it could simply fizzle out as it wasn't stable or strong enough for reality to bother accepting or rejecting. That was all her words, though simplified from his explanation because of her broken speech. She had learned the basics of movement within two months but being a wolf meant that she only knew how to bark. She could speak basic words and sentences like a five-year-old but if she was too excited or anxious she reverted to barking.

"Naruto-san…" Sasuke began drawing his attention. "Could you explain Fūton to me? I know the basics like that you 'sharpen' your chakra, but that isn't much."

Naruto raised a brow. "That's it? The academy standards must be getting lower, or Iruka-sensei is simply a better teacher." He took his scroll out of his shirt and unsealed his notebook. "Fūton is one of the five basic elemental nature transformations. It is performed by making chakra as sharp and thin as possible. Fūton is mainly short to mid-ranged offensive techniques that combine brute force and keen precision to deal cutting and slashing damage. A rarity among the five chakra natures, wind techniques are usually performed by generating air circulation and can be enhanced through this method as well. Wind-natured chakra can also be channelled into blades to increase their cutting power and overall range." He recited.

"Wow…where did you learn that?" Sasuke asked.

"Iruka Umino, my teacher gives very long speeches and is arguably one of the most boring teachers of the academy. What isn't arguable is that his explanations give the most information on the subject." Naruto answered.

"Oh. So how do you 'sharpen' it?" How the hell do you sharpen something that you couldn't touch?

"No. You have to send a fast, thin pulse of chakra to cut something or a large pulse to knock something back." Naruto lectured. In truth he didn't have the chakra control to do the first so when he tried he learned the second method.

"Except Katon." Sasuke corrected. "You'd just make Katon stronger by doing that."

"Which is a reason I am learning Katon from you, 'fight fire with fire' and so on." Naruto responded.

"Alright…do you know anything else?"

"No but inspiration comes sometimes. I learned Fūton cutting because my sensei threw a ruler at me and it lodged itself halfway into a wall. I figured out that it cut into the wall with speed which made me realize how Fūton worked. My friend is learning Fūinjutsu though." From how complicated Amaterasu made it with a 'simple' lecture of broken speech he had to admit she must be very smart to be able to use it.

"Isn't that what the fourth Hokage was good at?" Sasuke asked. "I think it was what made the Hiraishin." Too bad no one was good enough with Fūinjutsu to remake it.

"Yes…it involved Jikūkan Ninjutsu as well and was very advanced from what sensei explained. I think I heard some rumors that he taught his guards the technique but I'm sure it's just rumors." Naruto waved off, why teach it to anyone when you're almost unbeatable with it?

"Right…well we're here." Sasuke announced as they reached the border of the Uchiha compound.

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke inside. He immediately regretted it when dozens of people started to stare straight at him with narrow eyes, whether they were natural or not didn't matter they scared him all the same.

"Come on, there's a pond we could start at by my house." Sasuke directed.

Naruto followed silently while trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, there were dozens of people staring at him from nearby to down the street or even from windows. All watching him with their narrow eyes like hawks, he wouldn't leave though, not until he learned the basics of Katon!

Once they were by the pond it had lessened to only a handful of people watching from a distance. "Okay, lets start. To do Katon you need to rub your chakra against itself." Sasuke began as he put his hands up and rubbed them against each other. "That makes your chakra warmer, then you have to snap it." As he said that he snapped his fingers lighting his hands on fire, but not for too long as the fire jumped away into the pond. "Don't let it touch you though cause it'll burn you even though its your chakra. Control it and send it into the pond."

Naruto nodded and kneeled before the pond with his hand out, palm facing the water. "Remember what I said, send a thin, fast pulse of chakra to cut through something. I don't have the control to do it so I push instead but I think you should." With that said he sent a pulse of chakra into the water, making it dip where the chakra pushed against.

"So you can't actually use Fūton but you know how to use it?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I don't have the control to cut with Fūton. I remember that one of the most basic Fūton Jutsu had nothing to do with cutting and just blew things away." He didn't actually know but he had heard about a Fūton Jutsu like it that helped Katon.

Sasuke shrugged, "If you say so."

Naruto ignored him and began channeling chakra to his hands, he then started rubbing them against each other. The success was minimal since he could barely feel his chakra getting 'warmer', by the time it was 'warm' enough to actually be considered warm half an hour had passed by. He snapped his fingers and there was an incredibly small amount of flames on his hands. "…How did you do that so fast?" He asked.

Sasuke scowled as he sent a small pulse of chakra that barely caused a dip. "Katon is what Uchiha are know for, even kids like me can do it. Using a Katon Jutsu is our right of passage." He explained.

"You have a natural affinity for it." Naruto simplified.

"Yeah…"

XXX Naruto's Apartment XXX

Amaterasu was bored, her master wasn't around to make her food or throw the ball he got her so there was nothing to do. She didn't know exactly what made getting the ball so appealing but it was fun. She looked around and saw the green disk her master had decided to call a 'frisbee' laying against the wall near where her master threw a rock a year ago.

She stood and decided she'd figure out how the disk was related to her. She hadn't remembered anything aside from her name when she first woke up in her master's care and she hadn't bothered wondering what the disk or the seed budding outside had meant to her, but she had time to now.

She grabbed it between her teeth and moved to the bed. She set it down and gave it a long look…nope. Nothing came to mind. For a few minutes she just stared at it, waiting for something to happen.

(…Bored.) She barked. She sat up and wondered when her master would come back so that they could play fetch…an idea came to her in that moment. What would it be like to play fetch with the 'frisbee'?

*Whack* (Ow!) She barked as the 'frisbee' suddenly smacked into her, just as she imagined biting down on it. She looked down and glared at the…it was floating off the bed.

(What the hell?) Since when did it float!? All it did as far as she could remember was lay in the corner gathering dust. She looked around and the 'frisbee' floated around to stay in her sight. (Go away!) She barked, and it shot off at the wall in accordance.

(…) What _the __**hell**_? (…Come here…?) The disk, she refused to think of it as a frisbee anymore, floated back to a foot away from her before moving to float over her back.

The disk did what she wanted? (Stop.) It fell onto her back then to the bed and bouncing to the floor. A floating disk that did whatever she wanted…her master was in for such a surprise.

XXX 1 Month Later XXX

Naruto was sitting on his bed with Amaterasu lazily sprawled on his lap, he had been surprised when she showed him what her disk could do. He nearly had a heart attack when what he thought was a frisbee came flying at him followed by Amaterasu the moment he stepped through the door that day. After that he decided to find out just what the frisbee could do, which was more than he thought. Amaterasu didn't need to say anything to move it, just a gesture was enough.

They learned it could light itself on fire when he had been practicing Katon and Amaterasu lamented not being able to make fire. The thing had lit itself the moment she thought the word 'fire', it would similarly put itself out if she didn't want it to be on fire.

Aside from that not much had happened. He kept training in Katon, which was extremely difficult. He needed to wait longer so he could make enough fire to just cover his hands and he needed to dunk his hands in water to put it out. He needed better chakra control but aside from the leaf-sticking exercise he had nothing.

"Uzumaki-san." The cat-masked Anbu greeted while appearing before him.

"Hmm?"

"Your…ex-godfather has made it known he wishes to meet you." The female Anbu said tentatively. She knew what Naruto was and if he was displeased by it she wouldn't hesitate to bow her head and get the hell out of there. ANBU be damned she wouldn't be the one to force the matter.

"A full year after and he just barely says anything? No. Tell him I won't see him and if he doesn't like it he should've come see me before." Naruto said icily. If it had been a day or week after, he would've seen the man but a year after? Not a chance in hell.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san." The Anbu agreed, better to anger a Sannin than a Jinchuriki. It was arguable which was worse until you remembered one was human and the other could become a Bijū when pissed off.

There was also the question of quick death versus instant death but the Sannin couldn't harm her for being a messenger.

As the Anbu left Naruto decided to lay down, he could tell things were going to get complicated sometime down the road. If his 'godfather' was a ninja then chances were he would be forced into a mission with him if he got through the ranks fast enough. He'd have to stop at Chūnin just to be safe. Hopefully he would be out of the ninja forces before he had to meet the man.

XXX Hokage Office XXX

"Cat…where is Naruto?" The Hokage asked as the Anbu appeared.

"Err…he said he didn't want to come and that he should've been visited before…" Cat said nervously.

"I see…dismissed." Cat ran out of there like a bat out of hell after that leaving the Hokage and his student sitting across from each other silently.

"…Don't get angry, I was cautious about this. Never once did I mention your name to him so you could meet with him, simply not as his godfather or master."

A glare was his answer. "What about the summon scroll- the toads were angry when they heard Minato's son didn't want to sign the contract. I was almost flattened because-"

"Because you refused to see him when I or Koharu asked you to on your many times in the village…but you still went to the hot springs. Losing your title as his godfather was your own fault. Your title as his master by the same fault. The summon contract was his choice to accept or decline and he made his choice." Hiruzen interrupted. "None of this is anyone's fault but your own, I have made sure you get a chance though so don't say I'm not trying to help you."

Silence. "…Fine. Send me a message when I can see him."

Hiruzen sighed as his student left. It was his fault that he lost his position, he didn't take it seriously despite his constant warnings that he should visit Naruto and that the boy was becoming an introvert. There had only been one time in the last five years that the boy decided to talk to someone and that was more like a business transaction! The boy was a flight risk in the making.

The worst part was that he would do it legally and he couldn't stop him, the boy didn't have any ill intent to the village either from what anyone could tell. Konoha would be without a Jinchuriki and he was getting old, he'd need a replacement soon, someone in their prime who could take the mantle but neither of his students would take it and another candidate was guaranteed to leave if Naruto did.

Konoha's future didn't seem bright without Naruto.

* * *

**So yeah, time skip. **

**I couldn't put Naruto doing the same thing over and over for a few chapters while thinking of things for him to do as an eight-year-old so time skip. The next chapter will have another and an actual description of Amaterasu, as well as Naruto teaching her how to swim while learning Suiton. **

**If anyone accuses me of making the Hokage stupid my arguments are shown in the chapter, he wasn't being completely honest with Naruto and in all honesty he would've expected Naruto to jump at the chance to have a family, like any orphan.**

**Naruto being strong can also be argued because he doesn't have good control over the elements and he won't, because of his crappy chakra control. He'll have rookie training in all but Doton and Raiton by the time he meets Kakashi and starts training under him. **

**Just a warning, there will be a year, maybe a year and then some, between graduation and the Chūnin exams and I will be cramming a lot into that year. Especially since Naruto will, as always, have Shadow Clones. They won't make training too much easier though, I once read that if six shadow clones each learn to count to six they don't get thirty-six so it'll be only one clone learning something instead of groups. **


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto sighed quietly as he sat in a chair next to his bathtub, which was full and plugged to keep the water from escaping down the drain. It had been two years since he began Katon training and he was good enough to only need a minute to make enough flames to cover his hands, as opposed to when he began and he needed six hours to do so and needed to dunk his hands into water to douse the flames.

He scowled at the bathtub. He'd been sitting there for the last five days, using an empty apartment to shower and eating when needed, staring at the tub for an idea to start training Suiton. He couldn't get any ideas whatsoever and it was starting to annoy him.

"Hey Naruto, you in here?" The voice of Sasuke Uchiha asked as he entered the one-bedroom apartment. He had been depressed when his clan was slaughtered a year ago and later decided to get revenge, he had trained completely alone for a month after that until he met Naruto again.

Naruto informing him in passing that he was a lot like his brother was known to be was a large put off for being a loner. So he decided to train with others like his brother wouldn't have. The problem was that they either weren't good enough, fangirls that simply wouldn't actually train with him and would try to make him talk about his 'problems' with them, or too friendly for his tastes.

Naruto was the only person who fit the bill of: not giving a fuck about his problems, was diligent in his training, and didn't want to be friends. He was a perfect training partner with only one downside, he was an introvert. The only way that he could've even moderately befriended him was through his…pet…a plain white wolf by the name Amaterasu.

"Hello Sasuke-san." Amaterasu greeted in her human form. She was a brown-eyed girl with short white hair reaching her shoulders, that split in the middle of her forehead to show a red tattoo of an empty circle with a line extending out from its top and bottom, and two tufts at the top of her head resembling her ears. As a human her fur changed into a white kimono with detached sleeves held up by a red cloth, the bottom of which reached to her knees in a skirt with a red underskirt.

"Hey." Sasuke greeted back, he'd gotten used to seeing her like that a month after he'd managed to entrench himself as Naruto's training partner. It was weird to see her transform the first time since Naruto needed to put a shirt on her, as she couldn't manifest her fur as clothes, but when she could make clothes it was much easier. He raised a small bag of fruits in his hands, "Here."

"Thank you Sasuke-san." The wolf-girl said while taking the fruit, it was usually her that did the shopping since her master was too afraid so Sasuke occasionally bringing them food was welcome.

"Is he still staring at the bathtub?" Sasuke asked.

Amaterasu scratched the back of her head sheepishly at that, "Yes…" she answered honestly.

"Naruto! Get up, we're going to my clan's grounds!"

"Why?" Naruto asked in reply.

"Because it's the middle of summer, your apartment complex has no ventilation, and I'm already starting to sweat just standing here! I have a pool that you could stare at if you have to!" Sasuke raged, the sound of a muted plug being pulled was his answer.

"We are going?" Amaterasu asked.

Naruto walked out of the bathroom and towards his room, "We're going. Hopefully I can get an idea there." He agreed while getting a pair of boxers he could swim in, he wasn't going to have Amaterasu waste some of his orphan stipend on trunks when he could simply use a pair of boxers and she could make her own clothes from her fur.

"Finally, how don't you two burn up in here?" Sasuke asked as Naruto walked out.

"I've built an immunity by catching myself on fire constantly and Amaterasu has an easier time as a human with sweat glands." Naruto answered

The Uchiha face-palmed at Naruto's casual admittance of setting himself on fire. "Whatever, did you water your tree already?" If he didn't there would be more waiting before using the pool.

"Yes, I've watered it." Naruto answered exasperatedly, he did it every day for the last three years. As they, he, Sasuke, and Amaterasu, left the apartment he glanced out towards the plot. "It should be ready to bear fruit soon." He remarked.

Sasuke glanced at the tree too, "Yeah, but it still looks funny to me. It doesn't seem right for a tree…" He always got the feeling that the tree didn't like him, and it was a tree so he shouldn't get feelings from it.

"I found it's seed with Amaterasu and her disk so it is possible that it may be more than a tree." Naruto agreed.

"Master…" Amaterasu began as they walked towards the Uchiha grounds. The two boys both looked at her questioningly, "What is a pool and how do you use it?"

Sasuke almost tripped but he caught himself and turned to Naruto, "Are you telling me she doesn't know what a pool is or how to swim…and you brought her along intending to watch the pool while she does nothing but sit there like a retard?"

"…" Silence.

"If you try to make me teach her so you can stare at the pool I will cut you." Sasuke warned.

Naruto nodded and petted Amaterasu's head while she stared at them curiously. "Think of a pool as a big bathtub to play in and splash things, like I don't let you in the normal bathtub. I'll teach you how to swim when we get there." Naruto explained.

"Ah, splashing." Amaterasu said with a smile.

"…Do you get the feeling she just named something she isn't supposed to?"

"Yes…as well as the image of a, frankly, stupid-looking fish appearing in my head." Naruto muttered.

XXX Uchiha Pool XXX

Naruto was standing in the shallow end of the pool, shaped like the Uchiha fan with the dividing line between white and red marking the divergence from the 2-4' shallow and the 5-10' deep end. Next to him was Amaterasu who's fur was in the form of a white, one-piece swimsuit Sasuke had her copy from an odd book he scavenged from a relatives home, something about a school but they didn't care past the image of a girl their age on the cover.

"Alright Amaterasu, to swim you need to…to…" He slowly turned to look at Sasuke swimming in the deep end. "Sasuke! How the hell do I explain swimming!?"

Sasuke scowled and turned to him, mouth open to lecture him before he thought about it. How does someone explain swimming…? "Just teach her by example!" He ordered before returning to swimming. It was too hot to train so he'd just swim instead.

Naruto shrugged and turned back to his friend, "I guess you'll learn by doing then." He told her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Fall forward." She listened and fell forward, he kept her just above the water and started pulling her around the shallow.

"Is this swimming master?" Amaterasu asked. If it was it wasn't fun.

"No, look, try to keep yourself floating without me keeping you up. Can you do that?"

"Yup!" She felt her masters hands start lowering her and she glanced over at Sasuke, who was doing a breaststroke, and copied him. She failed and her head fell into the water.

Naruto grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up, where she coughed and sputtered out the water that went into her mouth. "Alright…I've got an idea. Stand up." She did so and he started to swim around her in a dog-paddle. "Copy what I'm doing, we'll work our way up from there."

Amaterasu hesitantly did what was asked of her, choking on water wasn't fun and she didn't want to risk it happening again. She kicked her arms and legs repeatedly and returning to a crouch to keep just her head above the water, it was hard and she could barely manage to keep her mouth from going under but she managed.

"Good. Now relax and steady your breathing, and stop kicking as much. Do it until you don't have to kick your arms and legs and just float, and float on your back so you don't choke on water again." Naruto directed her, using his own experience learning how to swim with the dog-masked Anbu years ago.

Amaterasu did so but couldn't stop kicking her feet because she didn't want to choke again. It could be blamed on the canine ability to learn what isn't good the first time and subconsciously decide to keep themselves from doing it as much as possible, but she didn't know that.

Naruto sighed, "Alright." He placed his hands on her back under her shoulders. "Lean back onto my arms and stop kicking, I'll keep you floating." He saw her hesitate to do so but she did, and he maneuvered his hands under her arms to pull her around. "Relax and focus on breathing, I'll make sure you float."

Sasuke stopped swimming and watched Naruto pull the wolf-girl around for a while until she was completely relaxed, after which he slowly let go and let her float…until she got near the edge of the shallow and he directed her away. "Hey!" He shouted when Naruto let to of her again.

Amaterasu jumped and Naruto had to book his hands under her arms again to keep her from going under. "Dammit Sasuke! She was finally floating alone!"

Sasuke smirked and Amaterasu turned to her master, "Floating alone?"

"I let to of you and you didn't fall because you were relaxed and kept breathing normally. Try it." Naruto explained and ordered.

Amaterasu hesitantly did so, just barely managing to float like she was told she would. "Now start kicking your feet a little." She heard and she did so, just moving her feet back and forth enough so that they moved above or below the water.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as she passed him in the deep end. "Look up, or you'll crash."

Amaterasu looked up, which would've been forward, and saw she was going to hit the wall. She didn't know what to do so she span in the water and started dog-paddling.

"So close." Naruto muttered as he swam up, "It's a good start though."

"She drowned trying to copy me."

"I sank like a fucking rock my first time, and I'm sure you did too." Naruto countered. "Alright Amaterasu, it's time for the basics of swimming forward and floating." He began.

XXX XXX

"Five o'clock." Naruto muttered as he looked up at the sky, they came at about midday so it had been five hours of just teaching Amaterasu how to swim. She wasn't that good either. Right now she was standing in the shallow and splashing water in any random direction.

Sasuke was sitting in the shallow with his mouth under the water, blowing water away with his breath…

"…Sasuke you genius!" Naruto suddenly shouted.

"…Naturally." Sasuke replied as he stood up. "…Why am I a genius?" He asked a moment later.

"I just figured out how to use Suiton by watching you breath into the water!" Naruto announced triumphantly to the other two.

"…By watching me breath into the water?" A nod. "How in the _hell_ does that help you figure out Suiton?"

"You reminded me of when I was using Fūton to blow away the water. Only instead of using air, just channel chakra into the water and guide it!" Naruto explained.

It was either retarded or sheer genius in how he figured it out, and Sasuke was inclined to think the first, but it was possible. Suiton Jutsu were just manipulating water this way or that way in a certain shape or amount after all.

"Alright…now once you've trained that enough figure out Raiton for me." Sasuke ordered, this was the reason he wanted Naruto around when he came to his pool, the retarded genius in figuring out elemental training. He just needed Raiton and he'd have all he needed to have a great set of Ninjutsu.

Katon mainly, Fūton to strengthen it, and Raiton to fight what was strong against Katon. Of course he'd need to learn actual Jutsu, and be good enough that he could use them with just one hand-sign or even none, but that was all he needed to be a great ninja.

On another note he needed more than just Ninjutsu, he'd need Taijutsu and some other skills. He didn't need Genjutsu since his Sharingan would be able to see through them when he activated it, so he didn't have to worry about that and could focus on other things. Maybe he should learn to use a sword?

"Master, it's getting late." Amaterasu said when she noticed what time it was.

"Alright, lets to home and take a shower. I'll figure out Raiton when I can Sasuke." He owed Sasuke for making it so he didn't have to tell Amaterasu to go out and buy things as often, not only that but he took attention away from him.

Next year was his final year at the academy wasn't it? He should probably start studying his notes…nah, Suiton training and Raiton thoughts.

XXX Hokage Office XXX

"Hiruzen, the Uchiha is calming down. Do you know why?" Koharu asked her old teammate.

"Frankly I'm as stumped as you, I've heard that he hangs around with Naruto sometimes but that can't be true. Naruto hardly lets anyone near." Hiruzen answered.

"Not true." Homura argued. "Reports of a white-haired girl following him around have started to emerge and he seems calmer when she is around him."

"White hair? I don't remember the Anbu Dog having a child." Hiruzen muttered.

"He didn't. He's celibate." Koharu spoke. Anyone who knew enough about his past would know that his teammates deaths had broken him and he took his female teammates feelings harshly because he had 'killed' her.

"Which is why we must find out her origins."

"I suppose you're right Homura, I suppose you're right. But what if Naruto becomes too attached to her and refuses to hand her over should she prove to be a spy?"

"In that case she will be confined to the village and heavily monitored, a bird in a golden cage if you will. His personal bird in the golden cage of Konoha."

"Yes…that will keep him in the village."

"…When did he get a peach tree?" Koharu asked as she read a report.

"He apparently grew it himself, planted it around the time he found his wolf cub." Homura answered.

"Why would be plant it at his age? At that time he would've been eight, nowhere near the time to care about a tree." Koharu wondered.

"He is an orphan and people are hardly willing to sell him food, learning to grow his own food would suffice. On another note what of the matrons?"

"They had done it so that the other children wouldn't be harassed by the populace. It wasn't a slight against him in particular but trying to protect the rest of their charges." Hiruzen answered.

"Why couldn't they contact us?" Koharu demanded. A Jinchuriki should always have it's location known so it could be protected in its youth and tracked down if it went rogue.

"They tried but every time they would get a notice of their paperwork being lost."

"I thought we had all people with grudges against the boy purged from the system?" Homura stated.

"We missed a few that were particularly good at hiding it, he was disposed of quietly for endangering an asset." Hiruzen spoke. Koharu and Homura nodded, it was a fitting punishment for endangering such an important asset to the village.

"…Just in case, we should hold him in the academy until the Uchiha graduates as well, if he is the boys anchor to the village it would be unwise to separate them." Homura warned.

"True." Hiruzen agreed. "It also gives Naruto an anchor if we need to get rid of the girl. He won't like the village after that but the Uchiha would keep him here."

"What of Dog? He would take both and leave if he heard the boy wished to but wouldn't want to leave the Uchiha. It also leaves the problem of a double flight risk should be not." Koharu argued. "If anything we should endear the girl to Konoha if she proves important to the Jinchuriki and we must monitor her."

"Hmm…I believe that when his training comes he should be trained to fight like his father." Homura suggested. "It would push our enemies to fear striking at us with a Jinchuriki that fought like the fourth."

"It would also give away the secret of who his father was, but honestly how long could it stay a secret with how much he resembles him?" Koharu asked while glancing at the picture of the fourth hanging on the wall.

"Too much, he has his father's creativity as well. Chūnin Iruka reported three years ago that he figured out Fūton manipulation when he threw a ruler at him." Hiruzen stated proudly.

"Incredible." Homura agreed.

"And what of his mother?" Koharu asked, refusing to believe that the boys father was the only one who's traits he received.

"Yes…he rashly canceled all marriage contracts, an Anbu said that he didn't even read them." Hiruzen muttered.

"…Why did it have to be her rashness?" Koharu asked depressed by the seeming only trait being terrible.

"Well she wasn't too smart and it could've been worse. He could've received her anger issues." Homura consoled his friend. For the next hour they'd simply talk over how much he was like his parents and what they expected from him.

* * *

**Hi. So Sasuke knows about Amaterasu and keeps Naruto around as something of an idea board for learning Ninjutsu.**

**The elders are somewhat shown to be somewhat ruthless and will use what they can to keep Naruto in the village while using him to keep others, but they're not all bad. They just want to keep their home safe and won't mess with his life beyond what's needed.**

**Now to answer something: A ****review said that if I had him use one shadow clone to learn a different thing each he could get a lot done, I won't have him do that. I'm going to have him fight like Minato, fast and with preferably no hand-signs for people to interrupt so I'm going to have him work on lowering the number of hand-signs and have him do it himself since he had more reserves than a shadow clone and it'll be harder to use Jutsu Without dividing up his chakra.**


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto was once again sitting in the far back corner of the academy, like he had for the last seven years. He'd failed the academy twice because he never bothered studying for the written exam or practicing the basic three Jutsu, too busy with Suiton and thinking about Raiton for the last two years. He found inspiration for Raiton one day when Sasuke dragged him around to do things several people confused as male bonding.

In reality they were doing random things since he got inspiration from the strangest things. From gambling to shopping for clothes to even sparring they did whatever to help him get inspiration. He found it while they had been playing billiards, Sasuke had decided to hold the cue's tip against his hand behind his index and thumb which were held together. He shot the cue forward and broke his fingers apart, hitting the stark white cue ball dead-center with a clap and sending it flying.

Hold your chakra against itself harshly, then pierce it down the middle with a single strike of chakra that would feed the spark.

Sasuke had been grinning like a madman when they succeeded and started training it's manipulation immediately, something he found easy. Naruto had theorized that one of his parents might've had the affinity but he didn't voice the thought.

Amaterasu nudging his leg in her wolf form gained his attention, he looked down at her and she nodded her head across the room with a glare in said direction. He followed her gaze and sighed seeing Akamaru, the partner of Kiba Inuzuka, staring at Amaterasu. Again. Why couldn't the little dog take a hint when she barked a 'no'?

"Is that mutt staring at Amaterasu again?" Sasuke asked from the desk before him. He'd taken to sitting near Naruto and borrowing his notebook to study rather than listen to Iruka, why listen and learn slowly while idiots asked questions when he could learn from Naruto's notes without pausing?

"It would seem so." Naruto muttered. "Do you think he gets it from Kiba-san?" He asked while looking at the boy staring at some girl with lavender eyes who turned her head away when he looked.

"Probably, you ever going to set that girl straight?"

"Will she stay awake long enough for me to?" Naruto asked in return, he saved the girl from some bullies once a few years ago and she'd been following him around ever since. He hadn't even said a word when he'd done it either which made it even creepier.

"Nope." Sasuke answered. "Have you practiced the basic three? The exams are coming up soon."

"Yes I have, I've gotten to the point that I could use them after wasting half of my chakra. I'll continue to practice." Their relationship would to anyone else seem like friends who worried over each other, but it was really that of business partners who constantly remind the other of their duties. Their partnership was this: they would fight as a team, like a chisel and hammer as Sasuke had more control while Naruto had much more chakra.

Sasuke had no problem with Naruto having more chakra than him, why would he want to be a human cannon? Stuck in one spot firing Jutsu while others had to protect him when he made hand-signs, sure they both planned on mastering whatever Jutsu they learned to shorter hand-signs but Naruto had it worse since he had much more to learn. Sasuke would learn Katon, some supportive Fūton, and basic Raiton so he could fight Suiton. Naruto on the other hand would learn offensive, defensive, and supplementary Jutsu for the three elements he knew how to use as well as Raiton when he finally began to train in it.

It could be argued that whoever had more Ninjutsu was stronger but when he was forced to watch his brother kill his entire family in that illusion, he noted that he had rarely used a Jutsu at all while quite a few died because they tried to. Jutsu were useless because they needed hand-signs, which took time to make in the correct way.

"Naruto, Sasuke! Do you two have something to share with the class!?" Iruka demanded.

"No." Naruto said curtly. Stiffening with the entire class staring at him.

"Nothing." Sasuke also said curtly, and some girls muttered how cool he was and started muttering how Naruto was copying him. It was stupid. Naruto was the introvert of them and he just wanted them all to stop staring so he could think.

Iruka sighed and turned back to the board, he had been briefed about Naruto being an introvert and Sasuke was his only friend aside from his pet wolf so he was probably trying to look out for the blond.

Naruto looked down at Amaterasu and petted her head, when he found her she barely came up to his knees, now five years later she reached his thigh and he'd grown a full foot since he was eight. She'd also come pretty far in Fūinjutsu, able to even make a seal to give chakra injected into it an elemental nature. She couldn't do any more since they didn't know any actual Jutsu so she'd been looking around for something else she wanted to learn.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time to leave already. Pretty soon he and Sasuke would be getting their asses handed to them by the training partner he found a year ago.

Fucking youth.

XXX Uchiha grounds XXX

Naruto, Amaterasu in her human guise, and Sasuke were waiting in the Uchiha clan grounds. A small lot full of just grass to be precise, one that Sasuke hired ninja to make by knocking a few houses down and planting the seeds. It could be said that he would've wanted his clansmen's homes to be preserved after their deaths but the person who was going to meet them had taught him a valuable lesson.

No matter how many times someone beats you into the floor like you're nothing, you have to get your ass up and keep going or nothing with improve or change.

Apparently the guy gets beaten by his teammate like its nothing but he beats them the same way, the guy had hopes that he'd win one day though and always got back up. He could respect that perseverance.

"Is that…" Sasuke muttered while looking towards a corner of the plot, Naruto and Amaterasu followed his gaze to see a black-haired boy with a bowl-cut wearing a green, full-body leotard. That was normal and who they were expecting.

What wasn't normal was the girl he was looking at confusedly, the one who followed Naruto around. "Lee get over here and bring her!" Sasuke shouted.

The green-wearing boy looked at them and nodded before grabbing the girl by her hand and dragging her towards him, her thrashing in his grip doing nothing for her. When they arrived Lee glanced at her. "Is she joining us in training today Sasuke-san?" He asked curiously.

"No but she needs to stop stalking Naruto already. It's starting to annoy me too." Sasuke grunted.

Lee frowned at the girl. "It's un-youthful to do that Hyūga-san!" He chided loudly.

"Hinata Hyūga." An Anbu said while appearing before them. "You were due back at the Hyūga grounds over an hour ago."

The girl looked frightened but only Amaterasu and Lee looked slightly worried. "Take her and go." Naruto said coldly, getting everyone's attention. "She followed us onto the Uchiha grounds during private training without warning or permission."

Sasuke caught on and decided to take advantage of the situation. "Hn. I'll be notifying the Hokage about her trespassing, now leave." He'd have the Hyūga by their balls with their heiress having trespassed on his property. The stuck-up bastards wouldn't let a single thing hurt their reputation like this would.

Accusations of her wishing harm on his or Naruto's person would put the Hyūga under close watch, he didn't know why Naruto was special but the village took his safety very seriously. A Hyūga, the heiress no less, following them where no one could see or hear them with her fighting style even without skill being dangerous, could be blown very much out of proportion.

The Anbu placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and left. "Master!" Amaterasu chided.

"No Amaterasu, I've helped her once and I have no intention of doing so once more when she failed to grow a spine." Naruto said authoritatively.

"But-"

"No Amaterasu. She doesn't have the spine to fight so I'll do everything I can to stop her from being a ninja. She will die if she hesitates to fight, people are cruel and no one will hesitate to kill her if she hesitates for even a second." Naruto argued.

"He's looking out for her in a way Amaterasu." Sasuke said quietly. "It's cruel but I approve, if you aren't cruel when choosing soldiers then you're being even more cruel by sending them to their deaths." It was one of the few things he still agreed with his brother on despite the later's betrayal.

Amaterasu flinched as memories of spars where the girl didn't fight back and simply dodged appeared in her head, each ending with her losing because she didn't have the energy to keep dodging and got hurt.

"I agree." Lee stated after a long pause to think. "If she wanted to fight she should, but she doesn't so she shouldn't. It's un-youthful but at the same time it's the most youthful thing to do." The fear in her eyes when he just said 'hi' and asked what she was doing was enough for him to know she shouldn't be a ninja.

Amaterasu whimpered slightly at being outnumbered on the subject but dropped it, bowing her head defeatedly. "Okay master…" She muttered.

"…If she becomes a ninja and it is necessary I will help her and keep her alive." Naruto compromised. "Lets start training."

Amaterasu straightened and smiled, "Yes master!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Finally." Sasuke complained, but eager to get away from his conflicting feelings on the subject. He agreed with it wholeheartedly but it meant he agreed with his brother on something. Or did he not even agree with the idea in the first place?

"Yes!" Lee agreed, also glad to leave the subject and begin training. The thought remained in his head though and he wondered if it was right to hurt someone to save them.

He shook his head. "Lets start with ten laps around the Uchiha compound! And if we cannot do that we must do ten more on our hands! And if we cannot do that we must do ten around the village!"

Naruto sighed, Sasuke groaned, and Amaterasu whimpered. The training Lee had them go through was complete and utter hell since they hadn't been doing it since they were ten. It would pay off later when they needed stamina at least.

XXX Naruto's Apartment XXX

Naruto was sitting on a chair and looking up at the ceiling quietly, he wondered what he'd have to do to make that girl stop being a ninja or quit the academy but it was hard. The girl was much more of an introvert than he was and she looked like a few harsh words away from suicide. It was even worse because she seemed to have a strong crush on him for years, maybe he could have Sasuke point out her faults? Yes that would do it.

He stood and started heading to his room, Amaterasu having gone to sleep in the apartment next door. He had…renovated…the wall so there was a dog-door to the apartment. He also locked the other apartment up tight so no one could break in.

As he walked into his bedroom he stopped. On his bed was a woman with black hair, two large strands of which parted at her forehead to frame her face while the rest was tied in an odd hook-like bun by…leaves? She wore a pink, high-collar kimono with a window shaped like a peach that would've revealed her chest if it weren't covered by two large leaves. It was tied by a red cloth and…was that another window showing her rear?

He blushed. "Who are you!?" He demanded.

The woman turned to him and promptly smiled. "Ah, it's the boy that planted of my sapling." She greeted, "Do you know where I might find the all-mother Amaterasu?"

"…'All-mother'?" Naruto asked. "Are you smoking something you shouldn't be?"

"Huh- oh! Right, different world." The woman muttered to herself just loud enough for him to hear, she shook her head. "I'm looking for a white-"

"I know, Amaterasu is my pet. Why are you looking for her?" He asked. He didn't know what was making this woman hallucinate about being from another world but he didn't care right now.

"A pet…Amaterasu…a pet?" The woman asked as if the words were never supposed to be used in that order.

"Yeah…she was beat up when I found her as a cub so I took her in. And who are you?" He demanded again.

"Ah, where are my manners. My name is Sakuya." The woman finally introduced herself.

"Alright, so why do you want Amaterasu?"

"Ah…I would like to…to…I didn't think this over." She muttered to herself and beginning to panic.

"What didn't you think through?"

Sakuya didn't pay him any mind. "Oh my, I'm supposed to take her back, all is lost if I cannot take her back but _how_ do I take her back? I haven't the power to transcend realities and I haven't heard of anything capable of doing so either."

"Hey? Are you going to panic on my bed or are you going to start making sense soon?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Huh- oh. Yes. It's nothing, I must go now…" Sakuya muttered.

"What-?" He was interrupted when Sakuya simply vanished. "…The hell?" He scowled. "How does she know Amaterasu…and why does she want her?"

XXX Nippon XXX

Sakuya appeared over her original tree and sighed, "What am I going to do…?"

"I don't like the sound of that." A small, the size of a fingernail, creature spoke from a branch.

"Issun!" Sakuya greeted.

"Yeah, it's me." He greeted, before pulling out slips of paper. "Here are some more prayer slips from Rao."

Things hadn't been well in Nippon since Amaterasu was confirmed to be out of the picture, Sakuya had sent Issun to warn the cities and it was lucky she had because not even a year later demons attacked every city.

Luckily the capital had been under constant guard and protected with a holy barrier due to the queen, Himiko, and the head priestess Rao's efforts after the demon, Nine-tails attacked. The demon had tried to later sneak into the city but because Sakuya had sent Issun to warn them Rao and Himiko had preemptively begun using the young queen's artifact, a crystal ball with the power of clairvoyance, to project a holy barrier around the city.

Issun had since become one of the most important people in Nippon, as the only one capable of taking Rao's prayer slips to the various villages to make barriers. It had been his responsibility and he'd taken it very seriously after the husband of Princess Fuse died because he chose to dawdle on his way to their village.

"Thank you." Sakuya said while taking them and placing the four slips on the four cardinal directions around her tree. "I have no clue how to bring Amaterasu back, I've found the human that took her in but I cannot transcend the boundaries of our worlds."

Issun grunted, "Don't worry, as long as the demons don't start attacking more than necessary everything will be fine." He stood. "I've got to go back to the capital, the last time I was there some demon had been trying to burn away the barrier with miasma."

"Will the barrier hold?" Sakuya asked, the capital had been a source of heavy attack from the demon hordes and despite never giving complaints the queen and Rao were still human.

"…It'll hold enough for the Tao brigade to slay any demons that could do actual damage. Have you found any of them?" Issun answered after a moment.

"I've yet to locate any of the brush gods beyond a general area, one is at the capital though and may help with the miasma." Sakuya answered.

"Got it, I'll look for it." Issun thanked before jumping off and heading towards the capital.

* * *

**A look into how things changed in Nippon without Amaterasu, Issun will be out of character since he's so important and has a lot more riding on him, even more since because he didn't do his job someone died and he made a woman a widow. **

**I tried to portay Sakuya as close to cannon as possible while adding all of Nippon being taken over by demons, with only villages being exceptions. It would leave her more worried about getting things done fast and in that haste is where she forgot to plan how she'd take Amaterasu back. **

**I bet you thought I wouldn't change Nippon that much did you? No. It's going to be messed up so that when Naruto and Amaterasu go, the method can be guessed, they won't just instant-kill whatever threats there are. **

**Hinata, not bashing but I don't like her original shy character, and Naruto isn't completely cold. He wont make any bonds to the village or really care about anyone but he wont let people get themselves hurt. **

**Sasuke's thoughts are justified since the Hyūga were 'rivals' with the Uchiha and sending someone to finish off the competition isn't unheard of.**


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't get it, it was a good plan." Sasuke muttered confusedly.

It had been a month since Sakuya had mysteriously broken into Naruto's house and vanished afterwards, and his subsequent telling to Amaterasu who didn't recognize the name at all. The next day he had told Sasuke of his idea for Hinata Hyūga.

It didn't work out for some reason, instead she started following him even more and none of the three could understand why. They point out each others flaws all the time, with Amaterasu being the exception because neither of the boy knew anything about Fūinjutsu, and they always thanked each other. It's a good thing when someone points out your flaws because you can work on them, yet the girl didn't and instead chose to follow him around more often.

"I know…maybe she's stupid?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "No. She's a noble and the Hyūga would never let their heir be stupid." The bastards had always been prideful from what his dad told him when he was alive.

"It doesn't make any sense then." Naruto said angrily, "If someone points out your faults to you then you should thank them, instead she cried to her father and made the Hyūga angry with you." Not that either of them cared, but over one girl?

Sasuke shrugged, "It's not like it matters. They don't sell anything or work at any stores so the worst thing would be to have a Hyūga as a sensei, and after I reported what happened its guaranteed that we won't have one."

"'We'?" Naruto questioned. "Why 'we'?"

"Please Naruto, you might not listen to rumors unless its important but I do. Rumors say that we're best friends and that Amaterasu is one of our girlfriend."

"…You or me…and Amaterasu?" Naruto asked slowly, it was just…wrong. She may be able to become human but she was still a wolf. "That's wrong on several levels."

"I know, but they don't know she's a wolf. You could use her as an excuse to not date anyone too." Sasuke informed, why date? It would only get in the way of training. He had the excuse of being too young and 'traumatized' by what his brother did, Naruto didn't.

Naruto raised a brow, "When has anyone thought of dating me?" He knew a little about dates, mostly that they were traditionally between a man and woman and were pretty much 'hanging out' in private.

"…Hyūga."

"That I would be able to tolerate." Naruto corrected.

"…No one actually, well, that brown-haired girl that sits in the front sometimes. The sickly one." Sasuke supplied, she did give Naruto looks from time to time and besides being capable of little physically she was tolerable.

Naruto scanned the room and eventually caught sight of a girl with brown hair reaching down her back sitting in the front, part of her hair framing her face straight and the other in a braid. She wore a pink kimono tied by a pink sash, from what he saw in Taijutsu spars he paid attention to she wore purple pants underneath it as well as mesh armor. "Yakumo Kurama. She was supposed to be trained by some Genjutsu user who thought her power in the art, which was enough to create an alternate personality, should be sealed. It would've happened if one of the blond mind-fuckers hadn't stepped in and imprisoned the personality in mental restraints."

"…And you know this, how exactly?" Sasuke demanded. That was some important information that an average academy student shouldn't have.

"The mind-fucker needed to look at a seal on my stomach, they refused to explain what it did though." Naruto growled slightly, "What right do they have to deny me information on something about myself? A liaison of the daimyo that specialized in Genjutsu was there to 'make sure they didn't try anything funny' and he didn't look pleased by it. I guess I'll find out from the daimyo or one of his workers."

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "What could be that important that the daimyo himself would have to come?"

"Something the Hokage doesn't want me to know that I should know." Naruto answered, using the same exact words the liaison gave him.

"…Whatever, find out what that girl likes about you or something…you manage the basic three yet?"

"All but the regular Bunshin unless I waste tons of chakra beforehand." Naruto answered, it was frustrating but he found out the less chakra he had the greater his control. It was basic but he had thought he just had a bit more chakra than others, it was actually comparing a river to a brook.

"Alright, come over later and I'll give you some Katon scrolls I'm done with." Sasuke ordered. People thought that he trained like a normal child would. No, he trained by getting his ass handed to him by Rock Lee, doing exercises the stamina freak would, and training his Jutsu to no hand-signs. In comparison to Naruto's 'river' of chakra he had a small stream.

"Alright, and Kurama-san?" Naruto asked.

"Please, after that pink-haired girl quit when I snapped and said I wasn't interested, and when the Hyūga didn't step up, she was first in line for female rookie of the year." Sasuke chuckled, "You and me are going to be together and I'm the male rookie of the year with your help. We'll be on a team no matter what."

"So we can wait or greet her…"

Sasuke glanced back at Naruto from the notebook he was studying. "…I thought you were afraid of people."

"I am but…" Naruto glanced forward towards the girl, "She was treated like a monster for something she didn't do…it feels…familiar to me."

"…" Sasuke glanced forward at the girl too, wondering how that was familiar to Naruto.

XXX Uchiha Clan Grounds XXX

"Here." Sasuke grunted while tossing Naruto three scrolls, "Three basic Katon Jutsu, we still have two months before graduation so work on them."

"One month each then." Naruto agreed. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu, Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu, and…Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." He glanced at his future teammate. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, everyone's dead anyway so why keep it as a clan technique?" Sasuke replied, people honestly still thought of the Uchiha as a great clan despite only one person being needed to kill everyone. It was stupid to even call it a clan anymore with only two living members, one of which was the killer.

"Alright, lets go to the pool." Naruto directed, it would probably be better to get away from the building that held the Uchiha Clan's Jutsu scrolls, as well as the eyes of the deceased so no one could steal them. It had taken Amaterasu months to seal away every jar with a pair of eyes as a favor to Sasuke, and only one remains unsealed.

Sasuke's own mothers.

"Yeah." Sasuke muttered, taking one last look at the building before they left. It was hard to go in the building when it always felt like his mother's eyes were watching him but it was a reminder of what had been done and what he needed to avenge.

Once they got to the pool they watched Amaterasu swimming for a bit, she had loved doing it after learning how. Just outside was a small pond where Naruto would practice while the other two just swam for the day. Amaterasu just had her Fūinjutsu studies which only went as fast as she could and Sasuke had already finished with the three Jutsu before giving them to him.

"Lets see, Hōsenka no Jutsu: fill lungs with air and mix with Katon chakra, then exhale in spurts while clicking teeth, or snapping fingers near mouth, between spurts to ignite." Naruto scratched his head at that. "Hand-signs: Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger. It seems easy but with how bad I am at Katon it may take the full month to simply learn."

"Just don't burn anything down, I'm planning on paying other ninjas to destroy a few houses for shops but I don't want to have to explain why they're cleaning up ashes instead." Sasuke ordered.

"You're making shops? Make one with bacon! Lots of bacon!" Amaterasu demanded.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Is all you ever think about Naruto, Fūinjutsu, or bacon?"

"No…I think about that lady Naruto talked about sometimes." Amaterasu argued.

Sasuke frowned, "Right, the one that was talking gibberish and vanished? Right?" A nod. "I don't know why she'd be looking for you, you're just a wolf that loves bacon and Fūinjutsu too much."

"Fūinjutsu is awesome and bacon is fantastic!" The wolf-girl argued.

"Whatever."

XXX Naruto XXX

Naruto was practicing the six hand-signs needed for the Hōsenka so that he could memorize them both mentally and physically. Ah, muscle memory was a beautiful thing.

"Naruto Uzumaki…?" A voice called out.

Naruto stopped abruptly at the voice and turned his head towards it. Brown hair, on part in a braid, pink kimono? "Yakumo Kurama." He greeted awkwardly.

Her eyes brightened slightly and she smiled, having been nervous before. "You know me?" She asked.

"Yeah. I was told about your…condition…when they asked to look at the seal on my stomach." He noticed her smile fell. "Did you want to talk to me?"

"Ah, yes!" She suddenly exclaimed. "I wanted…I wanted to thank you for that." She looked down and began fidgeting a bit. "If you hadn't then they'd have sealed away my chakra and I wouldn't be able to become a ninja. A few weeks ago they told me that the seal would've failed, it would've been my home burning down all over again…"

"Err…no problem?" God damn this was awkward. "I only learned about the seal that day so I should thank you, and because of you I'll be getting a message from the daimyo saying what it is since the Hokage doesn't want me to know."

"O-oh." She looked away. "I didn't know."

"As I said, neither did I. Thanks." He looked back to the scroll in his hands before rolling it up. "I'll repay you, tell me, is there a branch of Ninjutsu you want to learn?"

Yakumo's face fell, "I can't use Ninjutsu, only Genjutsu. I hope to graduate from the academy with only Genjutsu like that boy, Rock Lee did with Taijutsu."

"Do you want to meet him?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?"

"Lee spars and trains with us often, if you want I'll introduce you to him." Naruto explained.

Yakumo smiled happily. "Yes!"

"Alright." Naruto agreed before resuming his work on the hand-signs. After a while he noticed she never walked away and looked back to her. "Yes?"

"Uh…" She blushed. "I heard that you're going out with a white-haired girl…is it true?"

"White-haired…? Ah, you mean Amaterasu."

"…It's true?"

"I'll tell you a secret, Yakumo-san. I am afraid of people, my reasons for it are personal but I'm afraid all the same. Years ago I found a white wolf cub, one that still follows be to this day and who is a valued friend. Her name is Amaterasu. After a while she met a dog that could transform into a human, she asked that dog to teach her and it did. When I found out I was surprised, mostly because she woke me up as a human, and being afraid of people you could guess how that worked out."

"You screamed?"

"And threw her off of my bed. Anyway, even though I'm not as afraid of people as I used to I want her to talk to them for me." Naruto explained.

"Oh…" That was surprising to say the least. "So she's your pet?" A nod. "Um…"

"Yes?"

"Um, I wanted to ask if you would be my friend." She asked.

"…Sure. Um…what do friends do?" He asked.

"…What?"

"I've never had a friend besides Amaterasu so-"

"But what about the Uchiha!?" Yakumo argued. "I thought you two were best friends."

"He did say something about that. We aren't friends, more along the lines of partners. I don't care about his problems and I train seriously as well as being able to figure out elemental manipulation with vague inspiration, so he wants me as a training partner. In return he buys me and Amaterasu food." Naruto explained.

"But- last year you two went around the village doing things friends would for weeks!"

"Sasuke wanted me to figure out Raiton so he wouldn't have to worry about Suiton in the future, he's primarily a Katon user." He chuckled. "I figured it out when we were playing billiards believe it or not."

Yakumo couldn't believe her ears. "You and Sasuke, the two rumored to be best friends in the village don't give a damn about each other."

"If he lowers himself under my expectations I would drop him like a rock." Naruto agreed, "It's the agreement we made."

"Well…I've never had any real friends so I thought you would know…" She admitted sadly. Being a social pariah because your bloodline made you burn down your family home didn't help make friends.

"…I suppose we'll have to find out together then, won't we?" Naruto mused. "You'll be my first human friend and I'll be your first friend."

"Ah, yeah!" Yakumo agreed.

* * *

**Shorter than normal, I know, but it's mainly an introduction chapter for Yakumo, who is Sakura's replacement.**

**Now before I hear any complaints about Naruto being too nice to her despite being afraid of people in general, he was subconsciously recognizing her as exactly like himself (if he could realize Asura was there despite nothing pointing to it he could realize Kyūbi was). It was him subconsciously being nicer to someone in the same situation as him. **

**Now for why the daimyo's liaison was there, which is the main reason the Hokage and Elders wouldn't mess with Naruto's life: Minato sacrificed his very soul for his home, I'm pretty sure the daimyo could respect that. As such he would protect Naruto who is obviously his son and respect the 'hero' wish.**

**Aside from that not much happened, if there's any confusion on something leave a review or PM me and I'll place an explanation here.**

**Oh, and some reviews said that I got it wrong that the Elders would let Naruto go and that the Hyūga and Uchiha were rivals. As stated the daimyo would stop them in this and either way they survived two wars without an active Jinchuriki and Kushina's importance in the third wasn't actually stated so I'm writing it off as not really important. As for the Hyūga and Uchiha being rivals they are the only clans in Konoha with Dōjutsu so even if the Uchiha didn't pay it as much attention as with the Senjū it was there.**


	7. Chapter 7

"Naruto." Sasuke muttered, glaring around at everyone staring.

"Hmm?"

Sasuke turned his head to his right. "Why is Yakumo Kurama sitting next to you?" It didn't exactly count as something 'normal' in anyone's book, even the Anbu were so baffled he could see them outside! He could see them in broad daylight as they tried to figure out if it was an illusion!

"Ah, we are friends." Naruto answered honestly.

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and he turned his gaze to Naruto. "You're _what_?" Naruto befriending someone that isn't Amaterasu? Impossible.

"We are friends." Naruto reiterated. "And we will do things friends do when we figure it out."

Sasuke face-palmed and nearly smashed his head against the table when he saw the girl nod happily. "I thought you took your training completely seriously?"

"Huh?" That was…sudden. "I do take my training seriously. What would make you think I don't?"

"You made a friend." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yes I did."

"Friends take up time that could be used for training."

"…Consider it mutual training." Naruto said with a nod.

"Training?" The Uchiha asked. "Training in what?"

"Social etiquette." Naruto bull-shitted, he had no clue what that meant but it might be required for a mission.

"'Social etiquette'." A nod. "…Whatever."

"…Why are they staring?" Yakumo whispered to Naruto while gazing at the entire class _still_ staring at them like an abomination against nature, it was starting to scare her. It was the exact look everyone gave Sasuke when he sat in front of Naruto on the first day of the year…oh.

Someone completely unsociable becoming social with someone else that was unsocial was weird, even she knew that despite everyone avoiding her.

…It wasn't her fault no one wanted to be friends!

"I think they're surprised by something but I don't know what." Naruto answered. Amaterasu laying next to him whined.

Yakumo sighed. This was going to be her whole day wasn't it? "I think it's because neither of us talk a lot."

"Everyone shut up and pay attention!" Iruka shouted after collecting himself, he'd spent a good five minutes just staring at the, for lack of a better word, unnatural occurrence before his eyes.

As Iruka started teaching and the students started listening while sometimes glancing back at the group, Sasuke closed Naruto's notebook and slid it before Yakumo. "That's Naruto's notebook. Read it and memorize it."

"Naruto's…?" Yakumo questioned before beginning to skim through the surprisingly detailed book. "Wow this is good…"

"Naruto has failed twice but he knows the material, he doesn't need to study anymore." The Uchiha informed her. "You have enough control to do the basic three and all you need is to study that to ace the written exam. Just train enough to pass Bukijutsu and you won't have any complaints from me until we're on a team together."

Just because he knew who she was and that she would be on their team, didn't mean he liked it. She wasn't as physically capable as them and if he hated anything it was weakness. He heard the girl was getting treatments for her weak body but until she showed she was going to physically train when she was fully treated he wouldn't treat her well.

"I don't think he likes me…" Yakumo whispered to Naruto.

Naruto quietly grabbed her arm and lead it to Amaterasu's head, "Pet Amaterasu. It calms me down and you seem nervous."

Yakumo began to lightly pet the albino wolf and smiled when her hand was nuzzled against. "It's nice."

Naruto nodded his head. It had been an odd thing he'd do when stressed by too much people glaring at him on certain days. He's just pet Amaterasu and all his stress would go away.

XXX Uchiha Clan Grounds XXX

"Yo! Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Amaterasu-chan! How are you!?" Lee yelled as he ran up to the group of three, and Yakumo.

Anyone who knew the entirety of the situation would wonder how a wolf was more 'in the group' than a person but then shrug it off as the oddity of the group therein.

"Lee-san, this is my new friend Yakumo." Naruto introduced the girl who quickly bowed to the Gennin.

"Hello, my name is Yakumo Kurama!" She introduced.

"Hello! I am Rock Lee! The beautiful green beast of Konoha!" Lee introduced himself, "It's nice to meet you Yakumo!"

"Hn. Lets start." Sasuke stated before walking a few feet away.

Lee quickly followed. "Alright!"

"What's going on?" Yakumo asked, lost.

Naruto glanced at her confusedly. "A spar."

"Sparring?"

"Did you expect us to do sit-ups? What better way to train than to get beaten repeatedly and learn through experience?" Naruto asked.

"Master…" Amaterasu said while eating some bacon Naruto had made and brought beforehand.

"Yes Amaterasu?"

"Is Lee going to beat Sasuke fast again?"

"We'll see." And just as he said that Sasuke and Lee charged at each other.

Experience told Sasuke that reacting wasn't what he wanted to do, he nearly got his teeth kicked in the first time he tried. So he charged, straightforward but effective.

He threw a punch at the bowl-head's chest that was ducked under, but he had planned for that. Spinning on his heel he brought is foot up, only for it to be blocked. Again to be expected so he surged forward in an attempt to knee the older boy in the face.

Lee pushed the leg away and spun so his back was against the ground, he placed a hand on the floor under him and brought his knee up towards the Uchiha's stomach. He jumped back a bit so using his momentum he shifted into a handstand and pushed off into the air. Righting himself mid-air he brought his foot down towards the Uchiha's head.

Sasuke front-flipped in place to, rather than being hit, deliver a heel to Lee's face. It hurt to do since he had to bring his head down at just a moment's notice but he got the first and arguably most important hit.

"Whoa! You got me Sasuke!" Lee congratulated.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked. "Come on." Despite the bravado his back ached a bit from the sudden jerking.

He took a step back when Lee shot forward, from the look on his face he was being serious now. He kept stepping back from punches or switching from foot to foot but he wasn't hit. The problem was he couldn't find an opening either which made it a war of attrition.

Only Naruto could fight that with his superior stamina.

That didn't mean he wouldn't try, when a fist was pulled back again and another sent forward he jumped slightly and kicked it away, then he brought his other foot to Lee's stomach. Only for it to be grabbed.

"…Fuck."

Lee gripped the leg tightly and swung the Uchiha over him, throwing him away and barreling after to deliver a jab to the stomach. Then he followed it with an uppercut…while at a forty-five degree angle from the ground. It landed but…

"…Did he just trip?" Yakumo asked watching Lee flip over and roll on the ground comically.

"He must've gotten new weights." Naruto mused.

He tripped, plain and simple.

"Master…bacon." Amaterasu whined.

Naruto sighed. "No, you've had enough bacon for today." She already burned through a whole packet and it was barely four! Four!

"But master!"

"No!" Amaterasu whined.

"Ow!" The three turned their gazes to Sasuke who was laying next to a tree…covering his crotch…with a branch right next to him.

"Ouch." Naruto muttered monotonously.

Lee sat up abruptly and looked over to Sasuke before flinching and cradling his own manhood. "I'm sorry Sasuke!" He shouted sympathetically. He then stood and looked over at Naruto who nodded and walked forward.

"Aren't you going to help him!?" Yakumo shouted at the two.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke before shrugging and placing a hand next to his mouth. "Walk it off and hit the showers!" Those were the exact words that were always said when such an incident happened, which was fairly often for some reason.

The world seemed to want Sasuke to never repopulate his clan. Odd.

Naruto and Lee stared each other down while Sasuke collected himself and limped away, Yakumo could hear him muttering obscenities as he passed her. Not that she could blame him, it didn't feel good to be hit there for girls either.

"Go." Naruto intoned. With that Lee shot towards him and punched him in the side, in turn he kicked his knee downwards. With his foot already flat on the ground it was just Lee getting his knee stomped on.

Next Lee shot out his other foot in a spin-kick, Naruto dodged back and kicked him in the calf. That was how Naruto fought, striking one area until it was useless while trying to take as little hits as possible. He moved back and to the left from a right jab of Lee's, giving the younger boy a kick to the shin and using said kick to push his foot from under him. Lee stumbled for only a moment before fighting himself in a reverse spin-kick using the leg kicked away.

The hit landed on Naruto's ribs, gaining power from the weights around the leg swinging with the momentum. It almost cracked something but would only bruise heavily. Naruto hooked his arm around the leg and jabbed the back of the knee.

To Lee it felt like his leg was momentarily cut off and when he was pushed away he reflexively placed weight on the leg, making it explode in pain.

"That's brutal." Yakumo muttered.

Amaterasu turned to her. "Master doesn't care if he cripples the person he fights as long as they live." It was an odd thing about him, he didn't want to kill but he didn't care enough to not cripple.

Lee faltered and chose to fight in a handstand instead. He would only have one appendage to fight with for a bit but he'd manage. Moving forward he down on a palm to kick Naruto in the face, using the surprise against him. He then balanced and instantly lashed out with a fist to the side of Naruto's own knee.

Naruto faltered and Lee used the momentum to spin and kick Naruto to the floor. As with Sasuke he pushed off the ground and righted himself, bringing his weight down in a kick to Naruto's abdomen. It knocked the air out of him but he'd live. "That was good Naruto!" Lee complimented.

Still, to think he doubted his sensei when he was being taught to fight in a handstand. He would never doubt him again!

"Thank…you…Lee." Naruto wheezed as he choked air into himself again.

"Naruto are you okay?" Yakumo asked as she walked up, she was receiving treatments for her physical condition but pushing herself would land her back at square one.

Naruto just gave her a thumbs up. "How youthful!" Lee commented.

"Um…is Sasuke coming back?" Yakumo asked.

"No…he goes to the hospital…he's done it ever since the seventh time that happened…to make sure he can still have kids." Naruto spoke, pausing for breath.

"Oh…should we go then?"

"Ah, it's almost four thirty! I have to train with Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted while running off.

There was a reason they didn't train with Lee for long, despite just under a year of active duty Lee was Chūnin level in Taijutsu and would easily beat them. In turn if they could put up at least something of a fight they could beat most ordinary Gennin.

"Lets go." Naruto said as he got up. "Do you want me to take you home?"

"Oh, I don't want to trouble you." Yakumo denied.

Naruto shook his head. "It's fine."

"A-alright." Yakumo replied quietly.

XXX Kurama Clan Grounds XXX

The Kurama clan grounds were just a quiet mansion on the forest outskirts of Konoha. After the previous clan grounds burning down years before the clan had been relegated to barely being a clan. They didn't even have a seat on the council.

The mansion was quiet, with only about thirty members left most just wanted to wait quietly until time passed them over.

"This place seems…"

"Dead?" Yakumo supplied. "I know, we haven't been even a minor clan since our previous clan ground burned down a while back…"

"…" Naruto looked around quietly. "I admit its quiet, but not necessarily dead. The forest is nice and I saw a small ridge that would have a good view of Konoha to paint."

"You paint?" Yakumo asked a bit excitedly.

Naruto shook his head, "Me no, I'm no good at painting or calligraphy. Amaterasu is good though." It was a given to be good at painting to be good at Fūinjutsu, a steady hand and imaginative mind were necessary after all.

"Oh…"

"I wouldn't mind trying…I'm warning you I can't do much better than stick-figures." Naruto offered.

"I could teach you." Yakumo offered in return. "It could be a thing to do as friends."

"Oh, alright. I bow my head then master."

Yakumo giggled. "I'll just grab a few things from inside and we'll start." With that she went inside with a light skip in her step.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that she came out holding two notebooks and a set of pencils. Naruto tilted his head confusedly. "I thought we were going to paint?"

"Before you can paint you have to learn to draw." Was Yakumo's reply as she handed him a notebook and pencil. "Here, take this and try to draw something."

Naruto looked around before noticing Amaterasu who had returned to being a wolf before leaving the Uchiha Clan Grounds. "I'll try to draw you Amaterasu." He informed her before plopping down in front of her and opening the notebook.

"…"

"…" Yakumo looked over his shoulder and raised a brow. "Hey Naruto what's that funny stuff that you're putting over her shoulders?"

"Huh? What do you mean? That's the fur on her shoulders." Naruto answered.

"…Naruto she's an ordinary albino wolf."

"…Albino? No, she had spots of black fur on her shoulders and some red markings." Naruto argued.

Yakumo looked over at Amaterasu unimpressed. "No she doesn't." She informed him.

Naruto frowned. "Yakumo, draw Amaterasu." He commanded.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Okay…" Opening her own notebook she quickly sketched the wolf before her. "There."

Naruto frowned. It was just a regular wolf. "No." He muttered and reached over her shoulder, drawing crude versions of the tufts of fur on her shoulder. "She has tufts there with black spots…and red marks on her head and sides." He reached down and drew another crude drawing of the mark on his wolf's forehead.

Yakumo raised a brow. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she's had them since I found her."

"…Naruto you are learning how to draw and when you're good enough I want you to draw Amaterasu exactly like you see her. Alright?" Yakumo asked.

"Right." Naruto agreed.

Why couldn't Yakumo see Amaterasu like he did?

* * *

**It seems shorter and somewhat longer than normal to me…how did I do for the fights?**

**Anyways, Naruto seeing Amaterasu differently is finally being adressed, it'll be his and Yakumo's secret though.**

**Now for some answers, there is no time difference between the Okami and Naruto worlds, which is why I'll be explaining what's happening in Nippon in the story as well. **

**Physical transforming, no one else will learn it, it's for dogs who have different chakra coulda than people.**

**No one is going to Nippon for a LONG time. I already have the how worried out so don't question it.**

**That's it for questions. **


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto Uzumaki. Yakumo Kurama. Sasuke Uchiha. The three worst, in Naruto's case, and best students in the class under the teacher Iruka Umino. It had been a few days since they graduated from the academy and all three were in class once again, waiting for their Jōnin sensei to show up and take them.

Sadly it had already been nearly three hours without a single hint of the man showing up.

It was no problem for Naruto and Yakumo, as well as Amaterasu who was laying behind Naruto half-asleep. Quite the opposite, they were taking the time to help Naruto brush up on his drawing skills.

Sasuke, however, was angry. It hadn't been more than an hour before his patience ran out and now he was practicing his hand-signs. To be specific, he was running through the sequence for the Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu. Every so often he would spit a small fireball out of the open window beside him.

The three, technically four, were hardly interacting with Naruto and Yakumo being the only ones talking. If one were to see the group's schedule they would come to the conclusion that the three hardly knew each other past training and planning for the future, they would be correct. Not so much in the case of Naruto and Yakumo as they were friends, or Naruto and Amaterasu as they were close friends.

Sasuke however, only wanted a person to back him up when the time came to fight his brother. Naruto was the perfect choice and had fulfilled his duty thoroughly, providing him with a challenging training partner and did his own training as well. Not to mention his pet that could use beginner Fūinjutsu.

_Ah,_ Sasuke thought with the beginnings of a smile on his face. _The magic of explosives._

The image of him using hundreds of Fūinjutsu explosives to kill his brother calmed him down quite a bit very fast.

"…He's imagining himself killing his brother again, isn't he?" Naruto asked when he stopped hearing Sasuke spit a fireball every so often.

"I think so." Yakumo agreed. It really shocked her sometimes how Sasuke was even accepted into the ninja forces. It took her months of visits to a therapist to even be allowed into the academy and she had to resume them again to make sure she was fit for duty, but Sasuke didn't have to despite his obviously questionable loyalties.

_That is such bullshit. _She glowered inwardly. _I have to go through so much pointless crap when I don't really have anything against the village and probably won't be leaving anytime soon, but that prick doesn't have to go through one god-damn psychological anything._

Amaterasu suddenly sat up…only to reach her snout into Naruto's pocket and take some bacon from an open bag.

"Really Amaterasu? You could've just asked." Naruto said dryly.

Amaterasu shrugged as well as any wolf could and laid back down.

XXX XXX

"…Can I not take the Uchiha and take the wolf instead?" Kakashi Hatake asked his superior.

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "No Kakashi, a squad of -three- Gennin is Konoha's policy. Not two Gennin and a pet." He chided.

"The wolf could turn into a person though…" Kakashi protested. He didn't have anything against the Uchiha but if he would be that pissed whenever he was late then the kid would be a real pain in the ass.

"Might I also remind you that Naruto is his only tie to Konoha?"

Kakashi sighed. "Fine. I'll take the pain in the ass." He glanced at the clock… "It's been just about long enough. I should go meet them."

"Good."

…Kakashi didn't move from his seat.

"…That means go Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed one last time and stood, it would take a few minutes to walk to the Academy. Maybe another hour if he milked it.

XXX XXX

"That's it!" Sasuke suddenly shouted as he shot up to his feet. His teammates looked to him as he continued. "Our Sensei is over three _hours_ late, I'm going."

Naruto and Yakumo watched as Sasuke stormed off while Amaterasu lifted her head enough to watch after him as well. A few moments after Sasuke left Naruto shrugged and stood, offering Yakumo his hand. "I agree with Sasuke, our sensei isn't likely to be coming so lets head home."

"But what about-"

"If he wasted this much of our time, we deserve to waste his." Naruto argued lightly. Amaterasu barked in agreement as they walked.

Yakumo thought it over for a second before nodding and letting Naruto help her up. Even if she could do it herself it was nice to have a boy help her instead of calling her a freak and laughing. "Yeah…were are we going?" She asked as Naruto led her.

"I might not be your doctor but I think your lunch is a bit late. We'll stop at my apartment for something to eat and then go to Sasuke's house to train." Naruto explained.

"Oh…" Yakumo muttered. More training that she couldn't really take up until her body was better. Fantastic.

Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a second. "If I remember correctly, Sasuke found a scroll on a Chakra Control exercise. Something about trees."

Yakumo smiled at that, finally something she could train in. "What are we waiting for then?" She asked excitedly. "We should hurry up!"

"Your health, remember?" Naruto reminded her with a slight, amused smirk.

_…Did he…did he just tease me?_ Yakumo thought with an embarrassed blush on her face.

Amaterasu trotted into an alley and joined them again a few moments later in her human guise. "Do I get to learn it Master?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes Amaterasu, you can learn it. It should make it easier to keep that Jutsu up too." He commented.

Chakra Control meant better use of Jutsu so why not?

XXX XXX

"…Where did they go?" Kakashi asked as he stared at the empty classroom before him.

He had just got here and they weren't even here! He hated when people wasted his time.

Some people would argue that he wasted their time more than they did his but fuck those people. He was an elite Jōnin so he could waste as much of a Gennin's time as he wanted.

He wasn't being childish.

It was just facts.

XXX Uchiha Compound: Sasuke's House XXX

Naruto, Yakumo, and Amaterasu arrived at Sasuke's house eager to complete the exercise. When Naruto knocked on the door it was thrown open with Sasuke coming out holding a scroll in his hands.

"Pool." Sasuke ordered them.

They followed him to the pool without problem until Yakumo spoke, mere feet from the pool. "…I didn't think we were going swimming. Should I go home and get a swimsuit?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and waved his hands to encompass the entire area, more specifically, the ten-foot wall that now surrounded the pool rather than the chain-link fence that used to.

Naruto raised a brow. "Why did you get a new fence?"

"Those girls don't stop following me. One managed to climb over the old fence and she nearly got me. I hired a Jōnin to make this one." Sasuke informed them. "The scroll never said that we needed a tree, but a solid surface stretching up."

"We're using the wall then?" Yakumo asked. "What if we fall? I'm not a fan of breaking my head open."

"Jump into the deep end." Sasuke answered nonchalant.

Yakumo frowned. "I didn't bring a-"

"Take my shirt." Naruto said while handing her said white shirt. He hadn't changed the colors of his clothes from when he was a kid, it was nice to match with his pet.

Amaterasu had awesome fur color after all.

"But-!"

"Just strip and put Naruto's shirt on over your underwear." Sasuke ordered irritatedly.

Yakumo opened her mouth to argue but she saw Naruto and Sasuke already stripping down to their boxers, Amaterasu just changing back into a wolf. She sighed and quickly changed before either boy could look.

…Naruto's shirt was actually a bit big on her. It reached a good few inches down her thighs, like a really short dress.

"Walk to the wall, channel chakra to your feet, and try to stick them to the wall with it." Sasuke instructed them while trying it himself. It worked for a good two feet before he slipped and had to push off with his remaining foot, landing in the water with a splash.

Naruto's attempt was different. He launched himself away from the wall and into the water on his first step.

"Too little, too much." Yakumo muttered before placing a foot on the wall herself. After a moment she took a step up, then another, then another. It wasn't until halfway up the wall that she slipped and had to push off of the wall. She landed too with a splash, followed shortly by Amaterasu.

Yakumo quickly tried to get away so that she wouldn't smell like a wet dog but she noticed something…the wolf didn't smell.

"I'm a bit insulted, Yakumo." Naruto suddenly spoke up. "I wash Amaterasu daily to keep her clean. She wouldn't be allowed in the apartment otherwise."

Well…at least she wouldn't smell like wet dog when this was over. As she climbed out of the pool she noticed the white shirt clung to her skin. It was slightly transparent now too.

_Great._

The fact that she wouldn't smell like a wet dog was the only good thing about this exercise.

XXX XXX

"Let me get this straight, you lost your Gennin team." Hiruzen reiterated. How the hell does an elite Jōnin lose a team of freshly graduated Gennin?

In his own village no less!

"Well, at first I was going straight to pick up my team, but then I saw that a new Icha Icha was on sale. It took me ten minutes to wait in line to buy it." Kakashi began. "Then as I continued walking your grandson ran past me and tripped over his scarf- he should get that thing shortened by the way."

Hiruzen sighed and motioned for him to continue.

"After your grandson challenged he to a duel Gai came and I decided to introduce them."

"You didn't." Hiruzen muttered in mute horror.

"They became nice friends." Kakashi said with a smile. "I think I even heard him say something about 'freakishly cool eyebrows'. Then he gave me a look that said 'thank you'."

Hiruzen couldn't speak, Kakashi was just so out of character right now that he didn't know if the man was his ninja or not.

Kakashi's smile-outline on his mask widened. "Then came the greatest part, after an hour of walking I go to the academy…and they weren't there." He laughed. "I really hate it when people waste my time you know? I looked all over for them but I couldn't find anything, not a single clue to where they could be."

Oh…Kakashi was pissed and he was letting his 'inner Anko' out. _But on my grandson…using Gai no less…_

"Now, three hours later I came back to ask if you could check where they are since I can't find them, and you're making me explain this." Kakashi finished up.

Hiruzen reached into one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a crystal ball. He placed it on top of the desk and began to weave his chakra into it, thinking of the three he wanted to find.

"…Did you check the Uchiha Pool?" Hiruzen asked.

"…Fuck!" Kakashi growled.

Hiruzen almost chuckled as his subordinate turned to leave. "By the way Kakashi, for doing that to Konohamaru, your team will be restricted to D-rank missions for a long time."

Kakashi groaned. D-ranks, just. Great.

Hiruzen actually did chuckle as Kakashi walked out the door with his head hung low.

XXX XXX

The group of four were relaxing in the pool, it was almost sunset now and they stopped training. Naruto and Yakumo were laying against the wall of the pool while Sasuke sat at the edge with his feet in.

Amaterasu had returned to her human guise and was swimming happily, splashing at a bug sometimes or just floating along. It was like watching a little kid.

"Do you think our sensei ever showed up?" Yakumo asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "It doesn't matter, we can just see the Hokage tomorrow."

"Oh really?" A new voice asked.

All four stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the new person.

Kakashi glared around at his Gennin with his lone visible eye, he raised a brow when he noticed the wolf was transformed into a girl and swimming but attributed it to the oddness of the group. "I am Kakashi Hatake, your Jōnin sensei." He said calmly.

If anyone were to ask why Gai was walking around with a limp the next day, he would be quoted saying that he didn't want to challenge Kakashi when he picked a spar.

Nothing like beating the hell out of someone to calm you down!

"That's nice, do you need something?" Naruto asked bored.

"As a matter of fact I do, I want to know why you three weren't at the Academy when I went to pick you up."

"You wasted over three hours of our time." Naruto answered. "I think we were a bit entitled to wasting yours."

"Really? What if I just send you back to the academy?" Kakashi threatened.

"We are a group of two clan heirs and a person who Anbu watch closely. Yakumo can warp reality with her bloodline too. Do you think you could get away with it?" Sasuke asked in return.

They were a team of high-profile targets in the eyes of people who want to cripple Konoha. They had the potential to be great ninja and the greatest way to fight an enemy is to defeat them long before you fight. Taking out three high-potential weapons was a damn good way to start.

Kakashi frowned. He then smiled. He'd have to thank the Hokage for those D-ranks after all. He could just read his Icha Icha while they did extremely boring chores. "Alright then, go to Training Ground Seven tomorrow for your real Gennin test."

The three raised a brow but nodded. It was stupid to think that three of the most basic Jutsu ever would make someone accepted as a Gennin so this was actually expected.

"Alright." Naruto agreed. Kakashi smiled, then vanished in a plume of smoke.

"…Something tells me we pissed him off." Yakumo muttered.

Sasuke nodded. "He wasted our time but he didn't want us to waste his. Go home and get some sleep, you'll need it."

Naruto and Yakumo nodded while getting out of the pool. Amaterasu just got out and returned to being a wolf before shaking off all the water in her fur.

XXX XXX

After taking Yakumo home, Naruto and Amaterasu walked back to his apartment. Once they entered they saw a man waiting for them. "Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked. Getting a nod he continued. "I have a message for you from the daimyo."

Naruto nodded. "What is it?"

"You are the Jinchuriki of the Kyūbi."

* * *

**Not too long, sadly. Not much inspiration hit me for this chapter. **

**I felt it would be funny to piss off Kakashi by having people waste his time since in cannon he does it to EVERYONE. Now it was his turn to get pissed off.**


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm…what?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"You are a Jinchuriki, a human who has had a Bijū sealed into them during infancy. In your case, the very day you were born the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyūbi into you." The man before him explained. He wasn't very different from most people; brown hair and eyes, a simple blue shirt, black pants, and sandals. He looked nothing like what a daimyo's messenger should look like.

"What-? why-?" This didn't make any sense. Logically speaking, if something the size of the Kyūbi were forced inside of him he would explode because there wasn't enough space. "That's impossible!"

"Many of the feats accomplished via Fūinjutsu were deemed impossible prior to their happening. The Fourth's Hiraishin, sealing objects into scrolls, explosive tags, and even sealing a Bijū into a human being are all examples of the godly ability of Fūinjutsu." The man explained calmly. Such a reaction was expected from someone who knew nothing about Jinchuriki.

While the daimyo was privy to every single secret of a ninja village, he usually only listened to the most important ones and left all other information as things to study when he had nothing else to do. That was a major reason why Naruto's lack of an education on his technical 'species' was allowed, because the daimyo didn't know it was being kept from him. If he had known, however, Naruto would've been informed at a young age and kept under the strictest surveillance, unlike what Hiruzen did while attempting to rid the village itself of threats to the boy.

"That's physically impossible!" Naruto argued.

"As is sealing an entire house-worth of objects into a single scroll the size of a human forearm, yet your own pet has accomplished this and you've dismissed it."

A flash of rage ran through Naruto for a moment and he snarled. "Leave. Amaterasu. Out of this."

The man paused, frowning when Naruto's eyes flashed red for a moment. "…As you wish." He conceded. "Still, isn't warping reality itself impossible? Yet your other friend, Yakumo Kurama, is capable of doing this."

Naruto had to give him that. Controlling elements was normal for a ninja, as we're normally impossible feats, but warping reality was far from something anyone should've been capable of. "Yes…but what you're talking about is forcefully shoving a living entity of pure energy into an infant less than a day old! Anyone would die from that!"

"Anyone but an Uzumaki." Was the response.

"Uzumaki?"

"The Uzumaki were a clan that lived in the Ninja Village of Uzushio before its destruction in the Third Great Ninja War, after which the survivors scattered to all corners of the world. The previous Kyūbi Jinchuriki was Kushina Uzumaki, your mother." The man informed him.

Naruto didn't speak, thoughts shooting in all directions as revelation after revelation broke into his mind. Why people glared at him, why they seemed to fear him, why the Anbu always watched him as closely as a clan heir…he had a mother.

He had a mother and her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was the…Kyūbi Jinchuriki…before him.

"…Who is my father?" He asked.

The messenger stared at him long and hard, looking for any sign that he shouldn't speak for the sake of his own health. "…Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage."

It was at this revelation that Naruto's thought processes nearly completely stopped, one section, however, continued and asked an important question during his brief mental collapse: "Why are you telling me this?"

The messenger was silent for a moment before answering. "The Daimyo would rather not make you an enemy by lying to you, any information pertaining to yourself is to be told to you if you ask." People hated being lied to, especially when such important things are being lied about, and it usually ended badly when the person lied to found out.

He himself would rather not have a pissed Jinchuriki after him, thank you very much.

Naruto couldn't speak, a smidgen of logic he happily accepted finally entering the conversation. Someone didn't want to make him angry with them by lying to him. "Please leave." He suddenly said, hoping to keep whatever was left of the facts he knew about himself from coming into question.

"…I will return tomorrow morning in case you have any other questions." Was the reply the man gave before calmly walking out of the apartment.

Naruto didn't stand for more than two moments before promptly falling back onto his rear and placing his hands on his head. _…My father is the reason I'm a mess._ He thought to himself despondently.

There was no way to deny that he wasn't normal, not when a full day of the week that he and Yakumo spent 'hanging out' was devoted completely to 'people watching'. 'People watching' was an activity that was self-explanatory, they watched various people through the day to see what was 'fun'. It didn't help much because they didn't get most of it, such as the game of 'soccer' that had no logical point since nothing was ever truly done.

Now he found out that his father was the reason behind the reason he never learnt what 'fun' was. It was like learning that…well he couldn't come up with an analogy but it couldn't get much worse. Still, his mother was the Kyūbi Jinchuriki before him so was it his destiny to become its Jinchuriki anyway? Was the thought that he could've escaped that circumstance completely useless?

A thought suddenly crossed his mind, he and Yakumo were one in the same. Both of them had a monster, well he wouldn't go as far as saying monster since the Kyūbi never personally wronged him as far as he knew, inside of them. Maybe she knew a way to deal with this problem?

He shot up and turned around. "Amaterasu, we're going to Yakumo's home. I need to talk to her about this." He ordered.

Amaterasu complied with a bark, she herself was thoughtful as well. Just what were the limits of Fūinjutsu if it was capable of sealing one of the legendary Bijū? Theoretically Fūinjutsu had limitless potential so long as one knew enough, but to seal a Bijū was…it was something she had never even thought of. Maybe she should study her Master's seal?

If there was a seal capable of sealing the Kyūbi with no signs of it being sealed into something, then it must be a masterpiece…and as an aspiring seal master she must find its secrets. Of course, she would never think of experimenting with seals on her Master so she needed to make a copy of it. A simple seal to make actually, she could already see how she would make it. Mark his seal with another, which would react with another seal on a container of ink, and use the ink to paint a replica of the seal on a paper. It would need to be a large paper though, sure the seal had to fit onto her master to seal the Bijū into him, but it must be shrunken to extremely small sizes to fit.

No seal that could contain a living being could be any smaller than twelve square-feet and she knew that that was being generous about size. It would be closer to a full fifteen square-feet if she thought right.

* * *

Yakumo was…confused. Normally she'd be angry if someone came to talk with her at eleven in the night, but since she was informed it was Naruto she'd make an exception. He never did anything without reason.

Currently, she was wearing a simple pink robe, underneath which she wore a purple nightgown. She had been so close to sleeping when an attendant knocked to inform her of Naruto's arrival to speak with her. Now she'd be awake all night.

Just. Great.

Opening the door to a private room she had picked for whenever Naruto visited and they would talk or practice drawing, she saw Naruto sitting there and petting Amaterasu absentmindedly. That told her everything she needed to know about the situation.

"Naruto, what happened?" She asked worriedly while closing the door behind her.

"…A messenger from the Daimyo arrived today, he told me about the seal on my stomach." Her friend replied after a moment.

Yakumo stopped in her tracks at that, having been walking towards her friend prior. The seal on his stomach…the same one used to create the seal on her Id. She walked next to him and sat down, she could already tell it would be a long night. "What is the seal for?"

"…What do you know…about Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked, his petting of Amaterasu getting a bit faster.

"…A what?" Was Yakumo's confused reply.

"A Jinchuriki…is a person who had a Bijū sealed into them during their infancy." Naruto answered.

That sent alarms blaring through the Kurama girl's head. A Bijū. The only one around Konoha was the Kyūbi that attacked…almost fifteen years ago…the year Naruto was born. On October tenth…the day Naruto was born. The pieces all lined up and she could guess what he was getting at.

"Naruto…are you…!?" She gasped.

"The Jinchuriki of the Kyūbi." Naruto confirmed.

Yakumo pulled him into a hug, thinking of a way to respond to the situation. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked awkwardly, having no clue as to the protocol for the situation.

"How do you deal with the Id?" He asked.

Yakumo paused at that, idly she realized and felt flattered by him having come to her for advice but felt it was prudent to answer. "Well…I usually think about that it could've been anyone else in my family that had Id. Also…if I never had Id…I wouldn't have met you or Amaterasu or even Sasuke!" She admitted. They might not be a normal group of friends, not by a long-shot, but she wouldn't trade them for the world.

"…That doesn't help me much. I would've become the Kyūbi Jinchuriki regardless of the attack." Naruto replied.

"…What?"

"…When I asked how it was possible to seal a Bijū, the strongest no less, into an infant less than a day old, I was told that it was impossible unless the child was an Uzumaki." Naruto paused, his petting of Amaterasu speeding up significantly. "The Uzumaki were a clan that lived in the village of Uzushio before it was destroyed in the Third Great Ninja War." He informed her.

That was all well and good, and something to use her connections as a clan heir to learn about, but didn't explain why to Yakumo. "How do you know that you would still be the Jinchuriki though?" She asked. "It could've been anyone else too, they just had to pick an older kid right?"

"…The previous Kyūbi Jinchuriki was a woman named Kushina Uzumaki…"

Another piece entered the puzzle. "Oh…" Well, the family business. Letting go of Naruto, Yakumo sank back into her seat. "…So you would've literally become the next Jinchuriki no matter what."

"Yes."

For some reason Yakumo suddenly felt like laughing and after a few moments a small giggle finally escaped her, "We really are perfect friends for each other, aren't we?" She said through a fit of giggles. "I don't think anyone else in this village could actually understand what we're going through."

Miles away a purple-haired woman suddenly felt like breaking something…and did so, breaking a chair on someone's head and causing a bar-fight.

After a moment Naruto nodded, a small smile on his face. "I guess so."

"…So did you learn who your father is- err, was?"

Naruto's smile vanished. "The Fourth Hokage, the one who sealed the Kyūbi into me." Of course, the problem of 'he made me like I am' was softened by Yakumo's argument of not meeting her or Amaterasu, but he still felt uncomfortable about it.

"Oh…" Yakumo's giggles died instantly. "I'm sorry I-"

"It's no problem…I'm actually only uncomfortable with it. It would've happened anyway so…what is there to be mad about?"

Yakumo couldn't respond to that. It would've happened anyway so getting mad would be pointless, but still, it should've been someone else. Wait a second… "What happened to your mother? I can guess your father died sealing the Kyūbi into you…but what about your mother?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but promptly closed it. What about his mother? Was she alive? Was she dead? Did she merely abandon him to his fate?

"I don't know…but the messenger will come again tomorrow. I'll ask him then." Naruto answered. He then stood to leave.

Only for Yakumo to grab him and pull him towards the door herself. Once they had left the room she began to pull him down the hall away from the entrance.

"Yakumo…where are you taking me?"

"It's too late for you to go home so you're sleeping here tonight." Yakumo replied with a slight blush.

"I see, then the guest rooms are this way?"

"No…but my room is." Yakumo answered once more, her face a deep red.

"…Why are we going to your room?" Now even Amaterasu was curious.

"Well…you know how I never really had any friends right?" A nod. "Well, there was something I always wanted to do but since I never had any friends I couldn't do it."

"What did you want to do?"

"…I wanted…to have a slumber party." The girl admitted as they arrived outside her room.

"I see…" Naruto stated, he was confused. Weren't 'slumber parties' things only girls were allowed to participate in? If he remembered right from what he overheard a civilian girl say one day, the events were simply staying up and talking…or something. He was only half-paying attention at the time.

The sexual implications that would soon spread over Konoha through the rumors made by Yakumo's own clansmen never even occurred to him.

* * *

**It's a bit short…well 500 words short of my 3K expectations short actually. It would've been longer but I was running out of ideas and it seemed like a good place to end it for me.**

**Now, I know that SOMEONE is going to call me out on how 'kushina would never do that', but really? We never actually got any real context on her. She was a flat character that we can only describe and honestly say she loves Naruto and Minato. She wasn't really expanded on so that is an actual possibility, moreover Naruto and Yakumo don't actually know more about her than her name.**


End file.
